Of Time, Space, and Beyond Humanity Volume 1
by RYNOman78
Summary: When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!" New chapter every week, so follow and favourite for more!
1. In The Beginning Part 1

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

"EXTERMINATE!"

"Fuck...you...!"

Admit it, those aren't the best words you'd want to hear or say when you're about to die in front of a Dalek, but they were the last words that I ever spoke in my mortal life, before my life changed in more ways than one. Not to say that it hadn't already, but this time, let's just say things became even _more_ complicated.

My name is Marty Smith, and this is the story of my complex and crazy as Hell life.

First things, first. But not necessarily in that order.

Like I said, my name is Marty Smith. I was born and raised in Belfast,and for the first 20 years of my life I was happy living on Earth. Sure the weather was UK standard, but other than that, I was content with my life, despite all other hardships that I had to put up with.

Anyway, those 19 years were the best I ever had, then, a few months after I turned 20, my whole planet turned to shit. It wasn't anyone's fault though; I mean no-one knew the devastation that was about to befall planet Earth, not until it was too late.

One moment the skies were clear (or as clear as you can get in the UK), the next, giant wormholes appeared around not just the UK, but around the world as well. The scientists went mad debating with each other for a few hours as no-one had ever seen anything like this sort of event before, nor had they any inkling of what this event entailed.

Even Stephen Hawking -the person who wrote the book on this type of thing and the theory of travel through time happening- couldn't explain it. Then, like they say in the movies, the shit became real.

Again, one minute it was calm, the next Hell descended and proceeded to annihilate humanity. In this case it was an armada of nightmares that were thought to be impossible but were evidently not. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, you name it, they all

came from there, determined to conquer Earth and eliminate all who got in their way, even each other if necessary. I wouldn't call it a war; who would? More of a massacre, really. I mean, what could we mere humans do against an army of extraterrestrial beings with only one agenda and a lot of superior firepower?

Unfortunately, no-one could stop this apocalypse, as it took all the lives of those that humanity thought would have a chance to stop them. The SAS, the FBI, the CIA and so many more, they all became the first victims in a war that seemed and was impossible to win.

This is where I came in as I was among those who got "selected" to be part of a resistance group who were trying to seek an end to this madness by scouring the globe for an answer, one small step at a time. "Selected" is a choice word, as it was more lottery i.e. Hunger Games than it was actual candidates. We were the Orphans of Humanity, one of the government's (or lack thereof) ways of population control.

They said "resistance group" when they really meant "Suicide Squad." Yep, THAT one. Deadshot, Harley, Deathstroke, the whole thing. We were fed worse lies than the recruits for WW1. "Great Britain Needs YOU!" Yeah, well Great Britain can kiss my ass when I'm through with this. That's _if_ I manage to get through this shit.

Throughout our travels my group dwindled from as high as 100 to the point where it was only myself and my remaining companion left due to the group losing their lives either by sacrificing themselves to save us or by going mad and us being forced to euthanize them to put an end to their suffering.

Eventually, after making our way to what was left of Las Vegas, my "friend" pulled a gun on me and we fought until we were too tired to continue, at which point I put him at rest with the few bullets that were left in the gun. Making my way to the surrounding desert and after checking my supplies to see if I could go a bit further, (which I couldn't, due to them being diminished after the ordeal,) I lay down in the sand and waited for either the heat to take me or a Dalek to find me and finish me off. At least here the execution would be swift and the pallbearers even quicker. I closed my eyes for which I thought would be the last time and like Ben Kenobi at the hands of his old apprentice, accepted my death...

 **AN. This is the first time I've ever posted something like this to a website like this, even something that I've loved since childhood.**

 **This has been on my mind for a few years now, and even then, it's still a work in progress. Hope you can read this poor SOB's "attempt" at a passion project and leave good criticism about improvements just in case I can do better in the future.**

 **Thanks for reading this first part. Until the next time, take care.**


	2. In The Beginning Part 2

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 2/Prologue- In the Beginning Part 2...**

 _Hi. Author here again. Welcome back to another part of this Doctor Who story that hopefully will engage you._

 _In the first part of this story, We were introduced to the OC Marty Smith, and what led him up to the desert. In this part, we look at what happens after that, and... well... you'll just have to read for yourselves. Other than that, enjoy!_

However, even though I was agnostic, I believed that some religious deity decided that they were not that merciless, not yet at least, and instead brought me my salvation.

"Marty Smith. What are we going to do with you?"

A voice. English by the sound of it and feminine as well. I opened my eyes slowly, expecting this to be a dream. What I saw instead was a sight that would make the rest of my life actually mean something in the long run.

A girl about my age, perhaps older was standing in front of me wearing desert gear with a look that seemed to be a mix of concern and intrigue. She was a brunette, had green eyes and -from what I would learn later- a personality that would make the darkest of situations a lot better than they originally were.

"Am I dreaming?" I asked. "No", came the reply, "but from the looks of things you seem pretty far into that mindset. Now, first things first, my name is Sophie and you don't need to tell me about yourself. I already know all there is to know about you, Marty."

"How?" I asked cautiously, "And what do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later," came the enigmatic reply. "For now I have to contact my ship."

"Wait, what?" I exclaimed, struggling to get up suddenly. "What ship?"

"The ship that brought me here; I have to contact the crew to tell them mission accomplished."

My head felt groggy from the prolonged exposure to the desert and I would have fainted then if Sophie hadn't immediately saw me and held me up, placing my head on her shoulder.

"Oh no you don't," she said. "Wait a minute so I can sort this out for us."

Trying to balance me on her shoulder, she then took out what looked like a mobile phone and spoke into it, communicating her message.

"Bravo Delta, this is Golf Alpha requesting transport to ship. I have the objective. Medical assistance needed. Over."

A pause, and then a voice crackled out of Sophie's communicator. This time it was a male voice that sounded American and older than Sophie, although I couldn't exactly pinpoint where exactly they were from.

"Roger, Golf Alpha, bringing you on board now. Medical assistance ready. Prepare for transport. Over and out."

"Right then," said Sophie, as the message ended, "It's time for you to meet the crew."

I was about to ask "What do you mean...?" when we were suddenly teleported to Sophie's ship. "Crew?" I said as we appeared in another place entirely, one which I was severely underestimating in terms of size and scale.

I don't exactly remember the teleportation as such, just a blue flash of light covering me and Sophie and then we were transported to her ship. To me it felt like the teleports used in Star Trek; that would be the closest example I could give.

I tried to make sure I wasn't blinded by the exposure to the light, and the heat of the desert that I had suffered previously didn't help. Plus, _you_ try being held up on someone's shoulder and try not to throw up.

As I tried to get my bearings, Sophie called out "Medic!"

Someone who I couldn't make out came over to me immediately and tried to put me onto what looked like a stretcher, with Sophie providing the help to get me there.

"I'm fine!", I said urgently.

"No, you're not. Your vitals are messed up, you have a severe case of dehydration, and you look like you're about to be sick everywhere", said an unfamiliar, older, if not strangely soothing voice, which sounded Welsh, oddly enough. "Now, don't struggle."

"Alright," I said, as I tried to be still without making things worse.

The last thing I remember was being injected with a syringe and going to sleep, before thinking "At least I'm safe for now."

I came to an unknown amount of time later, opening my eyes and finding myself on a hospital bed, with medical apparatus aplenty; tubes and pipes doing and collecting God knows what.

A familiar voice spoke up. "Oh, I see Sleeping Beauty is awake, then."

I turned my head around slowly, as to not disrupt any equipment.

There at the foot of the bed was Sophie, changed out of her desert gear and into something resembling a more casual style, as well as what looked like a doctor standing beside her. She was in her late 40s, but had a look that was a combination of both caring and being professional at her job.

It was the doctor's voice that I'd heard, and not Sophie's, which surprised me. From the sound of it, it was her who had put me onto the stretcher.

"How are you feeling?" came the question from both of them.

"A lot better than I did before", I replied, but I wanted to know my situation. "Who are you?" I asked, "And how long have I been out for?"

"I'm Liza Martins," came the response. "Chief Scientist and Doctor, all in one."

"You must have your work cut out for you, then." I said wryly.

"Somewhat. I used to before all this, but now not so much. Now, in response to your other question, you've been out for 3 hours, but I've been monitoring your progress, and you've made a good recovery."

"Oh, that's great", I said, confident of my diagnosis. "Thank you. Is that it, then?"

"Not quite. We still have to get you a new set of clothes if you're going to be up and about." She turned to the right. "Sophie, go and give him a set of clothes from Marcus' room."

"Are you sure?" Sophie asked, which sounded a bit worrisome. "You know how he is about things like this."

"He'll be fine, and if he has any troubles, just refer him to me or the Captain."

"Alright," replied Sophie, and off she went, exiting through a weird, almost chrome door.

"Who's Marcus?" I inquired, "And what's this about a Captain?"

Liza turned back to me, as if she had forgotten I was there.

"Oh, that's right. You've been out cold and haven't been round the ship yet. Well, I suppose I should tell you a little about this place."

She began to talk about the ship first. "This is the Starship Odin, named after the Norse God. For us, it's been a somewhat small home away from home, but we've gotten through it all. It's been a few long, hard years on this thing, but we've survived, just about."

"How many of you are there?" I asked.

"Only 4 of us, now" came the sad response. "There used to be 10 of us, before… all this. You know Sophie and myself, but there's also Marcus, who acts as both the engineer and the quartermaster, and the Captain, Reinhardt. All 4 of us have had to take over multiple roles due to the loss of the rest of the crew. Each one of us has been through a lot leading up to your extraction, so please try to keep yourself calm and don't antagonize them. I've had to use up quite a few supplies on you alone, and I don't want to diminish more of them."

"I'll try", I said, "But I'm not exactly the best at keeping my emotions in check."

"Alright," came the reply, before Sophie came back into the room with new clothes for me. She didn't look pleased.

Both myself and Liza noticed this, and she asked "What happened?"

"It's Marcus. He wasn't happy about this, even when I told him about your orders, and now he wants to know what exactly the issue is that requires this urgency."

"Is he on his way here now?" Liza asked, shocked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Liza turned her head quickly and looked at me. "You'd better get dressed, quick."

"Why? What's the problem?"

I'll tell you in a second. Now, move!"

I was unsure of my visitors reactions, but I still got dressed as quick as I could, even though I was in the presence of two females, who thankfully turned their heads away from me. As worried as I was about those two, I was even more scared about hearing about Marcus, even though I hadn't known him yet, although I was about to.

Just as I finished getting everything on me, I was introduced to Marcus, who barged through the hospital doors and walked up to my bed, robbing me of anything that Liza would have said about Marcus to me.

I gulped as he approached. I thought I'd be prepared for him, but I guessed wrong.

For starters, he was Scottish, and built like a brick shithouse. He also looked like a cross between Frankie Boyle and John DiMaggio, but in his late 30s.

If that didn't paint a vivid picture of the sort of person that he was, I don't know what does.

All this was summed up even before he spoke in a gruff tone which I wouldn't forget.

"So you're the one we're fucking babysitting", he said with just one look at me. "Great. Just great."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?", I responded angrily, forgetting Liza's advice about not setting any of them off. "Were you expecting Hercules? Tough shit, pal."

Liza and Sophie, who were still there, were gobsmacked at how the both of us were conversing, before both of them snapped out of it and tried to break us up before things got worse.

"Boys, calm down" Sophie responded tensely, trying to stop the fighting before it started.

Liza was alongside her, attempting to get Marcus away from me.

"Marcus, he's only up from treatment, and he doesn't need any of your problems."

"Oh yeah? Well if he's so important, why get my clothes? Reinhardt's not exactly lacking in that department."

"Because you were the closest thing to a fit we had, and the Captain's would have been too big on him," replied Sophie, trying to defend me. I couldn't really fault her for that.

"Fine, but this is the only time, and you'd better be worth it, you little shit," he growled.

He walked away, skulking as he left.

"What was his deal?" I asked, making sure that he was out of earshot and then looking at the astonished looks on both Sophie's and Liza's faces at the fact that I had lived through that encounter.

"He… has this deal with personal property", replied Sophie, softly. I wasn't expecting her to be so vocal about this, but she was regardless.

Liza elaborated for me. "His property is really important to him, and… two of his friends were found dead near his room; without any questions, we knew not to ask about it."

"Is that the only thing, or is there more?", I asked, cautiously.

"There's more, alright", replied Sophie, sadly. "His family was one of the first to be "purged" during the invasion and he felt that no-one was going to help him to free them. As a result, he's been overprotective of his property, due to it being his family's heritage and legacy, hence the reason why he snapped at all of us."

I nodded slowly, understanding the situation before replying. "I'm sorry for his loss. I truly am, but that's _nothing_ compared to what I went through on the ground."

"We know, Marty. We saw a lot of it happening from here. Despite our best efforts, there wasn't a thing we could do without exposing ourselves to everyone or anyone who might have been watching." It was Liza who said this, which I was shocked at.

"Are you serious?" I asked, attempting to contain my rising temper. "So all of the people that I've had to leave behind to die, you couldn't do a thing for them? You just had to watch them in their last moments."

"You were our number one priority, Marty. I'm sorry. If we could have done something, we would have, but our supplies were low, and we could only go after you for our mission."

I started to get angry with them in the middle of Liza's sentence, but I was distracted by the last part."Wait, what mission?"

She responded only with "You'll find out in a bit from all of us, after we see the Captain."

Speaking of which, lastly was the Captain of the ship, Douglas Reinhardt, and it was his voice whose I'd heard on the communicator.

As I walked through the ship towards him, guided by Sophie and Liza, to introduce myself, I gasped as I saw him for the first time, and not after being dizzy from the desert.

First and foremost, he was a cyborg!

I hadn't seen it before as I was still having a headache, but now, I realised that he looked worse than I had thought.

Both of his right limbs were gone, and replaced with metallic ones, while his face sadly reminded me of Two-Face, as he had burn scars on the left side, which didn't look like they would heal at all, and yet they were covered in a facial replacement of some sort that looked like it wasn't designed to cover it up.

Reinhardt, with or without his "changes", was almost looking like Samuel L. Jackson, only in his late 40s.

Surprisingly, his voice box and vocal cords functioned normally as he introduced himself, with none of his dialogue being filled of the latter's vocabulary. Instead, he was well-spoken, and kind hearted towards me, which I thought was surprising at the time.

"My name is Captain Douglas Reinhardt," he said as he shook my hand.

"I apologise for the way you may perceive me as a threat or danger. However, do not blame me for my appearance, as I have thought to do. Instead, give that credit to my enemies, who decided I was better off dead than useful."

"Who did this to you?", I asked, cautiously. "Not Cybermen, 'cause they'd just convert you, and not Daleks, either, obviously, because that's second to compassion on their list of dealing with you nicely."

He chuckled dryly at the last bit, but responded, "A couple of bozos from Leguitha (Pronounced _Le-gwee-tha_ ) Minor, who thought it'd be a good idea to put me in a gladiator match against Silurians unarmed, and unarmed it was. I just about made it out afterwards, but I had to amputate my arm and leg to stop the Silurian's poison from spreading to the rest of my body."

"After that, I found a surgeon whose speciality was cybernetics, and they gave me what you see before you. My head on the other hand, well... chalk that one up to a bar fight that I tried to stop, but just ended up worse from. Seriously, the amount of guys involved there was just insane, and that was _before_ the police showed up..."

He trailed off for a second, then shook his head and got back to me.

"Anyway, here I am going on about my past and we haven't even talked about yours.

Or, should I say, the skills that you seem very knowledgeable about, despite your age."

"What skills?" I asked. "The fact that I can access technology effectively, or the fact that I can seem a lot more agile for someone of my stature?"

"Actually", replied the Captain, "It's your ability to handle yourself in situations like the ones we saw prior, and rescued you from."

"Oh." I said, with slight guilt. "That."

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing" Reinhardt spoke out, "All I'm saying is that those types of conditions change a man, for better or worse. You kept your emotions intact throughout it, didn't you?"

"For the most part, yes" I responded a little quietly, "But there were times where I couldn't do it, even in someone's last moments and I failed to help them through it."

Reinhardt then looked down at me, put his hand on my shoulder, then said this:

"That's ok, son. It's part of life. Sometimes you can't bare to put down those whom you care for. That happens. What happens next is what you do to convince yourself of doing the right thing to resolve the situation, whether it's for better or worse. We've all been there at some point in our lives. If you haven't, just remember that in the future."

"Thanks", I replied. "I will."

What happened next surprised me. Sophie had been keeping quiet beside me, but now she walked over to Douglas, whispered something into his ear, which he seemed to agree to, and then he spoke out to me.

"Well, I think it's now time that we talked about your mission, Mr. Smith, and what it means for all of us."

"About time", I said. "I mean, it was nice to meet all of you, but I'm more interested in what you have planned for me."

Both Sophie and Douglas looked at each other with worried faces, almost like they didn't _want_ to tell me.

"What's the matter?" I asked. "Don't tell me I'm the wrong person for the mission."

"It's not that", said Sophie. "It's rather the mission itself, and the layout of it."

Douglas took over for the talk. "As I'm sure you were told, we're a small crew, that was once part of a larger one, before all of this destruction of humanity. We've been doing this for a while now, and during all of that time, we've gone through the resources at our disposal like clockwork. Until now."

He braced himself for the next part. "I take it you know of the film Terminator."

"Yes", I replied, "Who hasn't? It's a classic."

"Well, this classic is real", Sophie spoke.

I was confused for a second, then I realised, "Someone actually made the events of the film real?"

"Not someone. _Something",_ Douglas responded with a hint of anger.

"It's not Skynet, is it?" I asked, jokingly.

"No. We don't know what. And that's the scary thing. Hardly anything is capable of ripping a big enough hole in the space-time continuum like that, never mind enough power to send through all of those monsters like the Daleks. Whatever did this, it's ancient, and has enough power to kill all of Earth without a second thought."

I soaked this all up before saying, "And this is where I come in, right? To go back in time before this happened and warn people?"

What was said next made me almost shit myself with fear. Douglas took a deep breath and said "No, Marty. You need to go back in time, protect yourself and become a hero. You're the only one who can save us from this menace."

I was too scared to even reply to this sentence, until I gathered myself and said "So… you're telling me… that I'm both John Connor and Kyle Reese in this… _suicide mission?_!"

Both Sophie and Douglas looked at me with a look of intense sadness, as if to say "we know you're going to your doom. We're truly sorry about it."

"So", I said finally, after a long pause, "This is why you gathered me and picked me up? Not because I had good skills or my sacrifices that I had to endure, but because you didn't want the last ash of planet Earth to be an unforgotten cinder."

Sophie walked over to me, sat down beside me and said, "If it makes you feel better, you'll have us by your side, as well as the added bonus of having the Doctor to help you."

I almost zoned out, until she said "Doctor", then I jerked up at once.

"Wait. _The_ Doctor? Over 900 years old and lives in the TARDIS, _Doctor_?"

They looked at me and nodded in unison.

"Why isn't he here now?" I asked with almost impatience. "He should be defeating all of these bastards, without a care in the world."

"That's what we thought", replied Douglas, with a trace of uncertainty. "Unfortunately, he hasn't shown up at all during this, even on UNIT and Torchwood radars, which leaves me with a question of "Is this too much for the Doctor to handle?"."

"And now you want me to go back in time to an earlier point in his timeline, be a companion to him, and all the while try to figure out a way to overcome this?", I asked, summing up Douglas' thoughts.

"Yes. However, like Sophie said, you'll have us with you when you go back, so there won't be any worries there."

"Speaking of which," I asked, "How exactly _am_ I meant to go back in time?"

"I'm glad you asked," came the reply. "Come, let us go to your vessel."

All three of us then walked around the ship until we got to an apparent dead end.

Reinhardt then opened up a hidden panel and pressed a code into it, that I couldn't see. With a buzz, a door opened and we walked through it, to a room that contained what looked like a cross between the Stargate, and the death-arch from Order of the Phoenix.

"This," Reinhardt said, "Is the Rift Gate. This is what we've been using for years now, in order to make sure that we evade those threats."

"How does it work?" I asked, with admiration.

Reinhardt pointed to a keypad that sat beside the Rift Gate. "You enter in the time, date and map-co-ordinates that you want to travel back to, then you go through the arch there. Thankfully, we've rigged it so that if anyone wants to go back, it'll only work for us via biometrics and a code phrase unique to each of us. This helps a lot if any trespassers come aboard and try to activate it to gain the upper hand. Plus, every time someone goes through it, there's a timeout period before the next person can go."

"Fair enough", I said. "In that case, I'd better get scanned in."

So Reinhardt took me over to what looked like a display console and screen that I was made to stand in front of, while it scanned my retinas and took a scan of my fingerprints.

"You'd better register your code phrase while you're here", said Reinhardt, as I was finishing up the process. "Just make sure that it's something that you'll remember, and that no-one else will know about." He walked to the door so that I wouldn't be heard. "I'll leave you alone to say it, just so I'm as deaf as the rest of us."

He left, and then it was just me and my thoughts.

I thought "Ok. What can I think of that's not going to let me down and that's easy to remember?"

I thought about it for a good minute, with my mind coming up with things that I was fond of, such as comics, movies and video games. All of which were good choices, but I wanted something so obscure that people would second guess the thought if it ever crossed their minds.

In the end, I realised what my phrase would be.

I remembered being fascinated with Latin from an early age, even if I didn't go to a Catholic school. I don't know why I did. I guess I was just amazed by the vast amount of uses for words then that were mostly obsolete now. However, one phrase stuck out more than others, which I thought was fittingly appropriate for this situation.

I went over to the microphone that was there and spoke, making sure that it would register every syllable and inflection.

"Proficio proprius vester fatum"

"Make your own destiny."

If that wasn't fitting for what was about to happen, I didn't know what was.

I waited for about 30 seconds, then the voice on the computer confirmed it. "Voice print recognised. We hope you have a good time."

Relief went across my face, before I walked out of the room and back to the others, who were all waiting for me.

"So," said Sophie, who was looking in anticipation, "I see you managed to get your passcode sorted out."

"Yep," I replied. "Hopefully, both the computer and myself will remember it," I said with a chuckle.

Reinhardt then walked over to me. "I think it's time we got you kitted up, then, son. What you're doing, you'll need all the protection that we have."

"Alright. Now we're talking," I spoke with anticipation. "What gear do you have?"

"What gear we can spare for you, is combat armour that can stop a lot of ballistics. Won't do a damn thing against Daleks, but it'll slow a Cyberman's attack, thanks to a few mods made by Marcus that help to absorb the energy bursts and use it in storage."

"What about weapons?" I asked. "Anything good to be found?"

"A few of ours, and a few of what we've managed to salvage from previous battles. That includes Cyberman lasers and Sontaran pistols, as well as our own modified firearms like shotguns and pistols, which can do a lot of damage if aimed and fired at the right spots. However, ammo is scarce from our fights, so make your shots count when you need to fight."

"Alien weapons. Now we're talking", I said with glee.

Reinhardt then pulled out his communicator and spoke into it.

"Marcus, we're coming to the armoury. Prepare all available weapons and armour for our mission. We roll out in 1 hour. Over."

A few seconds of silence, then Marcus spoke. "Yes, sir. Will do. Over,"

I could tell he still had it in for me, because he spoke again saying "What about the little gobshite? Is he coming too? Over."

I had never heard so much malice spoken in one sentence, especially that last word, to which both myself and Reinhardt were against, and looked at each other with disgust and horror.

He quickly responded with "I know you don't like or trust him, Marcus, but we need him for this mission. So, please try to contain your anger until after we are on the ground and this is all behind us. Over and out."

That last part was said with finality, like "This is issue is over and done with. We are not talking about it any more."

He walked towards the armoury, but as I went to follow, I was pulled back by Sophie, who for some reason had remained silent throughout the ordeal and who spoke to me directly now in private, wanting just the two of us alone.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"No", came the reply. She took a deep breath and spoke, looking me right in the eyes. Before she said anything, I could see intense fear in them. "The truth is, this is my first official mission under this crew, and I'm scared. I should have never signed up for this in the first place. I only did this to get away from Earth, and to try to make a difference to the world. I look like I'm tough, but I've only been a member of this crew for a few weeks, and I was someone who's always hidden from danger when it came. I don't know if it was survivor's guilt, or what, but somehow I'm alive. I just wanted you to know that, just in case you had any doubts about me."

As she spoke, the fear in her eyes turned into tears of sadness and I knew I had to do something about it. When she finished talking, I helped to wipe away the crying and lifted her head up.

I then did something that, to this day that I still remember clearly, not knowing it would cement both of our fates.

I held her head in my hands, leant forwards, and kissed her softly, pulling back after a few moments to let us both recover from it.

When we did, she asked "What was that for?"

"I wanted to tell you in some way that you weren't alone, and I thought this would be that way", I said, wanting to lift our hopes up. "That, and I didn't want someone as beautiful as you being ruined by ugly tears, so I had to make you happy, and that made me want to do that even more."

Both of our cheeks were bright red after this ordeal, to which Sophie replied "…Thank you. That's probably the best thing someone has ever done for me in a long time. I don't know how I can repay you for this."

"You can say thank you", I spoke, looking at her now cheerful face, which made her smile and I saw how she looked a bit nervous and chuckling at the same time.

"Well, thank you", she said. She went to walk away, but turned back. "I don't want to ask, but was that your first time with someone… like that?" She asked curiously.

I took a deep breath before honestly saying "Yes. You're the first person that I've ever kissed like that before. Never had someone before that. No-one would have me." I said, laughing at the last bit.

"Don't say that. You're a good person. I'm sure of that. I'll tell you what", she said, after a few seconds of thought, "Once we land on our mission and start it, maybe we can try to work something out. I'm not exactly saying no to it. I'm just saying, we can see. You up for something like that?"

"I'd be glad to," I replied with a smile. "I forgot to ask earlier, because of what happened with the crew and all, but what's your full name? If I'm going to have a chance with you, I want to know who I'm going with."

"Fair enough," she responded. "My name is Sophie Carrie Miller. That's it. Now your turn."

"My name is Marty Roger Smith. It's nice to meet you, Miss. Miller," I said, bowing to her a bit to play it up.

"And the same to you, Mr. Smith", she responded in the same playful manner.

"Alright. Come on," Sophie spoke, letting both of us get up. "We still have to go to the armoury. I'm sure we've wasted about 10 minutes of their time, and Marcus isn't exactly the patient type about this."

"Ok," I said. "Lay on, MacDuff."

I was met by a look, like "Really?"

"What? You don't like that line?", I asked her, curiously.

"I've read a bit of Shakespeare, just not in its entirety."

"Well, I know what we're doing for our first date, then" I chuckled.

"Anyway," Sophie replied, "We just have to go for about 15 feet, then we're there at the armoury."

"Sounds good. I'm right behind you."

 **A/N This chapter took some time to write, due to games and movies that came out inbetween, and I couldn't exactly say no to them.**

 **I hope to have this beginning finished by the end of the week. It will be the third part, filled with action before we get into the meat and bones of the companion's journey with the Doctor.**

 **If you haven't already, I would like to see at least a follow and reviews to judge my writing skills, or lack thereof. You know, because people will criticise anything they don't like...**

 **Anyway, until next time, take care, readers.**


	3. In The Beginning Part 3

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 3/Prologue- In the Beginning...**

 _Hi. Author here again. Yeah. I promised that I'd have this finished by the end of the week following the previous chapter, but a few things came up and I couldn't finish it until today._

 _For one thing, creativity was a bit lacking and I had to try to get myself back into writing for this._

 _Another thing was that I saw both Baby Driver and Spiderman Homecoming, so they were on my mind for a bit until I got this done._

 _I mean, it's not that hard to see why..._

 _Anyway, sorry I took so long, and now we rejoin the third part of this prologue before the actual companion shit goes down._

 _I may have included a few lines from some movies in here, some which are standouts, and some which are obscure. Good luck picking them out._

 _With that, I leave you with this:_

 _The following chapter contains swearing, so be careful as you read it._

 _Please enjoy._

We then walked there together, both of us trying not to give each other looks in case the others caught on.

Unfortunately, as we got closer and closer to the armoury, which looked like a giant shed, Marcus and Reinhardt were already there, suiting up. Marcus noticed me at once, immediately gave me a dirty look and sized me up, saying "Well, look who finally showed up. You've taken your time, you little shit. Now, get your arse in gear."

"Marcus, we've talked about this!" Reinhardt snapped. "You need to control yourself around him! He's new, and he's only learning the ropes around here. So for once in your life, don't be so goddamn selfish, and treat him with respect!"

"Fine..." muttered Marcus, as he went back to put on his gear.

Making sure we couldn't be heard by him, Reinhardt leant down slowly to speak to me. He had to do this, because his armour was both impactful and limiting his functions, even with him being a cyborg.

"I hope that whatever you two talked about, it was worth it", he said in a knowing tone.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to feign surprise.

"I mean, that I know that look around people like you two. No matter how much you're trying to hide it, you have feelings for her, and I think she feels the same way."

I was awestruck. _How can he know about that?,_ I thought.

He saw my face and smiled, like a mind-reader. "I've been alive for twice your age and a bit, son. I know what love looks like. Trust me."

He said no more about that, and we both exchanged a knowing look, so that there were no misunderstanding between us.

"Right, then", he spoke. "Time to get you suited up. Sophie", he asked, "You mind giving me a hand?"

"Not at all, Sir," she replied. "Get onto the platform, and we'll help you put on your armour", she said to me.

"It's not gonna hurt, is it?", I asked, jokingly.

"Just a little It's somewhat heavy, but it does the job. You may want to relax a bit."

"Why? How hard can it be...AHHHHHH!" I yelled, as the full weight of the torso piece was put upon me, even as slow as they were, taking the time to put it on me.

"Please, tell me that's the worst of it," I winced, as the weight continued to sag me.

"Just for the torso. Now we need to get your leg braces fitted, so it's more stable."

"You couldn't have done that before?" I asked, in pain.

"Shh. It's ok," said Sophie, kindly. "The leg bracers will only take about 30 seconds to put on."

"Well, hurry up", I said, trying not to be impatient. "I'm not sure if I can last up to a minute with this thing on me."

They managed to fit the bracers on to me, just in time. Any longer, and I'd have needed crutches.

"Last, but not least," said Reinhardt, happily, "Is the helmet. Put it on, and then look in the mirror, there."

I did, making sure that none of my hair would get in the way, and giving myself clear visual space. I walked to the mirror near the armour and smiled under my helmet.

The final armour that I was wearing looked like – admittedly a dinged-up version, due to all the shit it had been through – a cross between the NCR and Power armour from Fallout. The helmet in particular took my fancy.

A red and grey intimidator, in the shape of a skull, with a fixed grimace akin to the Joker separating the mouth from the rest of it. The eyes looked hollow from the outside, but this was just an illusion, like a one-way mirror, which made me perceive the world better than you'd originally think.

"Sweet." I said, impressed. "I feel like I can take on the world with this."

"Don't get cocky, kid" Reinhardt said, looking down at me, chuckling. "We still have to get the others suited up and then get the weapons handed out, so it'll take a while to do this. Here. You can help me with Sophie while we wait."

I did so, making sure to do what they had done for me while taking my time so she wouldn't be like me and almost be crippled under the armour.

Her helmet was put on, and even under it, I knew that she looked ready.

Even so, I asked her, just in case.

"Are you ok?"

"Somewhat. I'm not really sure about this, but I'll give it my all anyway."

I could feel the nervousness in Sophie's tone, and replied "Don't worry. I'll be right behind you. I promise", as I grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes.

"Thanks. I appreciate it", came the timid response.

There than came a cough from Reinhardt, who had of course, seen the whole thing and spoke.

"If you two are finished, I think it's time to get the weapons out. Follow me."

"Yes, sir", we replied at the same time, with me being a bit sarcastic about it.

The weapons were located close to the armoury, in a section of their own.

Reinhardt opened the door and I gasped. Despite what they had said, their inventory was still pretty solid. About 8 types of each gun lined their shelves, sorted out by type and ammo.

On one shelf there were, indeed pistols like Colt 1911s and – I almost laughed when I saw them – 44 Magnums, which I thought seemed fitting for this type of mission.

On another there were shotguns, both ranging from double barrelled ones to pump – action ones, alongside rifles that looked like they could hit hard, both ballistic and lasers, like what had been told to me earlier.

I took a minute to take in all of the spectacle, before I went for my weapons of choice.

Being the Clint Eastwood fan that I was, the 44. Magnum was the first one I went for.

The others noticed this, and Marcus – still wanting to grind my gears and knowing about the kickback of the gun, - asked "Are you sure about that one, or does the baby need a water gun to help out?"

I took no notice of him and immediately went to load the ammo into it, which, again, was pretty scarce. 18 rounds were all that was limited to each one, so I made sure that I had enough room on my belt to hold all of them.

After the last round was loaded, I made sure to pick up one of the Sontaran pistols that was on another shelf. It looked sleek for its design, and since I didn't want to be loaded with heavy weapons, I picked it up so that I had at least something for both types.

As soon as I did this, everyone else had almost finished doing the same, save for Sophie, who was helping out Reinhardt, and then vice versa. Marcus, being his usual self, did all of his without any help.

By the time we got finished, we looked like we were straight out of a war-time comic book. Reinhardt and Marcus led the way with automatic weapons on their backs, while carrying a pump – action shotgun each, both of which I had seen being filled with a unique type of shell coloured blue and green, which I could only imagine specified explosive, if not something else.

Following in behind were myself and Sophie, with light weapons to cover the rear. She had went for a different approach than I did, going for the standard Colt 1911 instead of the more dangerous option that I had chosen. She still went for a Sontaran pistol same as me, which she made her primary weapon.

Reinhardt looked at all of us, and found his communicator, which he activated.

"This is an open channel, now, so I want all of you to listen. You reading me, Liza?"

A pause, and then "Yes, sir. Loud and clear."

"Good. Now, while we're gone, you're acting captain of this place. Don't let her get too banged – up," he chuckled.

His joke was acknowledged, and then responded with "Alright, sir. All lights look green for your mission. Good luck."

"Thanks, Liza. We will. Over and out."

He cut communications with her, but left it on for the rest of us.

"Like I said, this is an open channel. If you say anything, you're talking to all of us, and not just one person. Understood?"

It was meant as both a comfort to me, but also a warning to Marcus, in case he tried any of his shit again.

"Yes, sir," we all replied.

"Right, then. On with the mission. First stop, one of our contacts."

I couldn't help but cut in, saying "Who is this contact? And why didn't you get them before me?"

"To answer your questions, A. They're an old friend of ours, and I think you know them as well. And B, we needed you before we set off to find them, just to make sure that both sides were legit, and wouldn't try to double-cross each other. From our business dealings in the past, we know they're not exactly squeaky – clean when it comes to alien affairs. That's all you need to know at this time before we set off. Now. Any more questions, or are you done?"

"I'm done," I said quickly, not wanting to be a dick about it.

"Right. Forward march."

No sooner had he taken a single step than an alarm blared out. We knew this, because it wasn't the sort of thing you could ignore.

"Now what?", we all wondered.

Reinhardt quickly reopened comms with Liza.

"Liza. What's the problem?"

There was silence this time, almost too much. Then we heard the voice of fear talking, and we realised why she had been silent for that period. Our hearts stopped as she spoke.

"Sir, it's Daleks. Oh my God. They found us. I don't know how, but they found us. All of our equipment is hidden from their radar scans. This is just impossible..."

She trailed off in disbelief, as Reinhardt tried to calm her down.

"How many are there? Can you give me a readout?"

We heard the beeping of computers as she finally said "5, and they're approaching fast."

"Lock down the teleporter," came the reply. "We don't want any of them getting aboard that way to outnumber us."

"Already on it, sir. I've also taken the liberty of making sure that the airlocks and the surrounding areas are tightly compressed. Anything coming in those ways will just end up sparking themselves. We're protected, as long as they don't…."

She trailed off again, as she had apparently noticed something else.

"What?! What is it?!" shouted Reinhardt anxiously.

"Shit! They're breaching through the hull, sir. They knew I'd spend so much time worrying about the airlocks, that they would just blast the exterior of the ship without me even realising about it." She nearly broke down into tears.

"It's alright, Liza. Just come to us. The ship can wait. Before you do, tell us where they are."

A few more seconds of silence, and then:

"You're not going to believe this, sir, but they're not there any more. The scan shows them as leaving the hull and going somewhere… south."

Both her and Reinhardt pieced it together instantly. "ENGINES!" They both yelled.

"HIT THE DECK!" Came the shout, before a massive explosion rocked the ship.

Too late we reacted, as the armour may have been there to protect us, but now it felt like a hindrance as we were now almost held down to the floor by the sheer weight of it.

As we struggled to recover, Liza said quickly "They've disabled the engines and now they're resuming to their hull situation. Originally, the hull would hold for longer, but now the engines are gone, you've got about 5 minutes before they get here."

I could tell Reinhardt was thinking this through, because he said "You need to get with us as soon as you can. It'll take half that time for you to join us if you run now, and another half that time for all of us to get through this."

"On my way, sir. Over and out", came the immediate response.

"Well, now we have a problem," came the grim voice, as Liza's communications cut off.

"No shit," replied both me, and for once Marcus, at the same time. I almost wished I wasn't nearly terrified of this encounter.

"Any idea how we get through this?" I asked. "You said it yourself, this armour doesn't do a thing against Daleks."

"I know, and look what's happened."

Reinhardt quickly went through the options in his head before presenting his plan.

"As soon as we meet up with Liza, we should be able to get to the Rift Gate. I'll need to punch in the co-ordinates, but after that, it'll be a few things. One, there's gonna be a timeout in between each of us going through, so we'll need to hold them off to get others through. Two, it's a one-way trip until we can get a base of operations sorted on the ground. And three, there are hidden explosives in the controls of the Rift Gate, which can only be set off manually, meaning someone either has to stay behind, or get the Daleks to activate them by accident."

"Sir", said Marcus. "You don't mean..."

"Yes, Marcus", came the sad reply. "A captain must always go down with his ship."

"No!" we all replied. "There has to be another way."

"I wish that was the case. Unfortunately, it's not to be, so I want to see the rest of this group, but especially the both of you" he said, referring to me and Sophie, "live through this, and make this mission your priority. I wish I could live for longer, but seeing as how Daleks are nearly unstoppable, I feel that this is a fitting end for me."

"You won't be alone, Captain."

Marcus got up, and spoke.

"Ever since I lost my family, I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory to join them. What better way to do that, than by killing the bastards that got them in the first place?"

Even behind the mask that he wore, Marcus was determined about this.

Reinhardt just gave up, and said "Alright. The two of us are going down fighting. First we have to get to the Rift Gate. We've now got," he looked at his HUD. "3 minutes left. Let's get moving, people."

"What about Liza?" I asked. "We still need to wait for her."

"You're right. She's cutting it fine."

We ended up waiting another 30 seconds before Liza showed up, nearly out of breath.

"Made it, sir."

"Thank God. Now we move."

The orders were more precise now.

"Marcus, you take the back, in case any of them get behind us. I'll take the front. The rest of you, get ready for this. Concentrate your fire on the eye-stalks and use your cover well. They won't stand up to the strain of all of us if we work together. Forward march."

We moved towards the Rift Gate at a breakneck pace, which was ironic, given the armour that would have done our necks in anyway.

Our approach would have been more stealthy, only it wasn't that hard to be heard with the heavy footsteps clunking about the place.

Soon, we arrived at our destination, and it seemed quiet. Too quiet.

"I don't like this," said Reinhardt. "If I'm right, the Daleks should be on board by now. Marcus. Cover us."

"Aye, sir. Will do." As we progressed towards the Rift Gate console, and Reinhardt got ready to put in the codes, then it happened.

One second, it was near silent and the grey of our suits were the only colours seen, the next, the unmistakable sound of the Daleks came, accompanied by the penetrating hue of their eye-stalks, and then, as the cherry on the cake, their signature phrase rang out. What made it worse, was that it wasn't just one after the other. It was all of them in unison, singing out the same, terrifying chorus:

"EXTERMINATE!"

"OPEN FIRE!", came the immediate response, as the ray blasts from the Daleks rained down near us.

Marcus did so, empting bullet after bullet into the Daleks' eye-stalks as they approached, until they screamed out "MY VISION IS IMPAIRED! I CANNOT SEE!"

Using the limited cover that he had, he somehow managed to avoid the exterminations that they wanted to obviously get him with.

Due to the ships hallways being narrow and singular, this made it a good opportunity for us to pick them off one by one, as the Daleks would have to keep moving slowly in order to hit us, while making sure not to hit each other.

Unfortunately, they had seen ironically right through this plan, which made what came soon a whole lot worse.

The Daleks had been blinded, but not made deaf. So, their sensors managed to pick up on the gunfire caused by Marcus, who, by now was running out of bullets.

"Sir, almost out!" he shouted.

"Just hold on, Marcus. Nearly there."

While Marcus had been buying us time, Reinhardt had been typing in the data into the Rift Gate. At last, he yelled, "Got it!"

All 4 of us were lined up, while we waited for Marcus to join us. Instead of footsteps, we heard the click of his rifle, followed by it being dropped with a clunk, with his yell of "COME ON, YOU BASTARDS!" being the final thing to be heard for a few seconds.

"No. No. What's he doing?!", came the impatient response from Reinhardt. "He's gonna get all of us killed, never mind himself."

The answer came in the form of a blast from Marcus' shotgun, which now let loose with heavy damage and noise, and which I was right about before when I saw the shells he put into it.. They were indeed filled with explosives, and which proceeded to rain down on the now rapidly deteriorating Daleks whose speech was now garbled as they struggled to form words.

"Ex-trm...te"

"Ex-trm..."

"Ex"

With that last "cough", they ceased to talk for good. Marcus really went to town on them. His efforts had made their armour peel off them like wood shavings from a belt sander, and now they "stood", forever lost and dead to the rest of the universe.

He put his gun down and smiled.

"I think that's it, sir!", he shouted.

"I'd better hope so. Come on. The Rift Gate is waiting."

We turned around to go towards it, when we heard that noise again, and my face turned pale inside my helmet.

"No. No. No. Please, God no" I said in fear.

What had caused this reaction, you might ask? The sound of more Daleks, of course.

"It was all a setup," we all realised. Those Daleks had just been the footsoldiers, who were sacrificing themselves just so most of our ammo was gone, and leaving it up to the next wave to carry out the rest of it, who would then leave no survivors.

"Sir!", shouted Marcus, "20 more Daleks ahead!"

"Goddamnit", came Reinhardt's reply. "Marcus, it's been an honour serving with you."

"You too, sir. You too."

Marcus then took off his helmet, showing his face full of determination and anger, and ran towards the next wave of Daleks that were approaching him, firing the last rounds that were in his shotgun before yelling "BRING IT ON, YOU FUCKERS!"

The last thing we heard, aside from the blasts from his gun and his yelling was the overabundance of "EXTERMINATE!" as he was brought down by the now advancing fleet, followed by a massive thump, and we knew what that meant.

We stood there for a second and admiring in his sacrifice before realising the mission.

"Everything is set up for you lot", said Reinhardt. "But like I said, there is a timeout, so we need to make sure that we're holding them off for you. Sophie, you need to go first."

"Are you sure, sir? What about Marty?"

"He'll be next after you. Now hurry up."

"Fine," she said. Taking her helmet and bracers off, showing her face full of sadness and fear, she made sure that she was facing the machine, and trying to speak over the noise, she input her password and, still holding on for her life, struggled to make sure that her biometrics were scanned as well.

After what seemed like ages, the commands were entered, and the Rift Gate activated. While that was the good news, the bad news was that the Daleks had caught up to us by this point. I counted the numbers.

Marcus, for better or worse, had reduced their numbers by a far amount.

Unfortunately, the ones that were still there progressed without any faults, and set their sights on us instantly.

They went after Liza first, who had opened fire quickly behind her cover, and managed to get a few shots in, before we instantly knew that she was done.

"Exterminate!" came one of the final sounds surrounding her, aside from her screaming as she collapsed, followed by 2 thumps. One, the weaker, was the gun that she had been using, which now dropped to the floor.

The second, and much larger, was her body, as it embarked onto the final journey of death.

"What are you waiting for?!" Came the shout from Reinhardt, as he realised we hadn't moved. "GO, NOW!"

Sophie made her way towards the Rift Gate, turned to me and gave me a look of happiness, as if to say "we're nearly through this" and that was when the Daleks fired again, yelling "Exterminate!"

This time it was sadly at her, and because of her back being to them, and the fact that she didn't turn in time, she faced me as she fell, her face in a split second turned from one of happiness to immense pain and anger as she died right in front of me, but as a result, that had pushed her through the Rift Gate unintentionally, so now her body would be God knows where, unattended.

"No. No. No." I whispered, trying to hold back the tears. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" I yelled, as I raged, and tried to come to terms with it.

My eyes became infused with hatred and anger, which I now used on the Daleks as I pulled out my 44. Magnum and unloaded into their eye-stalks, each one of them hitting their marks perfectly. I guess it was the luck of the Devil that made it worth it. Either that, or now my pain and anger were now giving me more strength to do this.

The Daleks now dropped like flies, but I was running out of ammo, and now it was my turn for the Rift Gate. We both took our helmets and Reinhardt looked at me with an expression of both awe and shock. My eyes were nearly filled with tears, but without a word, we knew what we had to do.

I stepped forward and made my way to the Rift Gate controls, trying to dry my eyes as I went, and making sure that when I spoke, my voice wouldn't be garbled by the crying.

I said my code phrase, and waited as it loaded up for me, again trying to hold back the tears.

Walking forward, and stepping in front of the Rift Gate, I turned around in one last exchange between the two of us.

"Godspeed, Captain."

"And you, Mr. Smith. And you."

Reinhardt then turned around to the console and spoke into it, giving the final command, "Initiate Epsilon 5 Zulu."

I walked through the Rift Gate and proceeded to my destination, the last things I heard being both the alarms saying about the countdown until destruction, and Reinhardt's last words being "Here we go again..."

* * *

The transportation between the two places felt quick, and I soon arrived at my destination with something close to ease.

I say that, because while on the ship it was a vertical entrance gate, the landing was horizontal, and instantly I fell from the sky and landed with a thump on the ground.

I tried to recover from the fatigue that I had endured, before I looked around and saw what remained of Sophie. I couldn't help but let out a loud cry at what I saw.

Due to her death, no-one was in control of her suit, and she had plummeted to the ground without any resistance to stop it in some way.

I went over to her, ripped her armour off of her, and saw her face. It was in a state of agony, which had now been silenced forever.

My armour soon came off, which took a while to do, on account of it being a one man job.

After this, I cradled her in my arms, and kissed her forehead, while keeping my tears away from her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Next on my list was making sure that she deserved a burial, one that I wouldn't forget.

I looked around at where I was, in case there was any civilisation.

As it turned out, I was in the middle of a huge field, one that looked miles away from anyone, or anything, which made this both easier, and much harder at the same time.

Using the leg bracers, I was able to dig a grave for her, with enough room for a headstone which I substituted for my chest piece, dug deep enough into the ground so that it wouldn't be suspicious.

I lowered her down into it, but not before I managed to carve out her name using a nearby rock onto the headstone.

All that was left to do was to fill the grave, which I did with great discomfort, but knowing at the same time.

With a heavy heart, I knew that I still had to continue on this mission.

"Time to get moving," I said.

I walked for about an hour, just trying to find someone or something to help me.

"Please, God. Let there be something here", I said impatiently.

A few more minutes and I saw something that made me laugh coldly at a sense of civilisation:

A road sign, with 2 sets of writing on it.

One, I couldn't read, but the one under it had only 7 letters in it in English.

Instantly, I knew where I was going, and who the contact was. The only things I was curious about were "what year is it?" and "how are they gonna react to me?"

"Well, no time like the present," I said, grudgingly.

It took me about 4 hours to get there on foot. I would have taken a ride from someone, but who's gonna take pity on a guy who looks like his clothes are burnt right through?

Eventually, I made it to the front door of the contact after learning of the date thanks to a newspaper, which showed it as January 3rd, 2000 and, braving myself, knocked on the door.

I waited for a response, which came after a few seconds.

"About time you guys showed up. I was getting worried. Now, how about we start this thing…?"

The voice got louder as they approached, but when they opened it and saw me, they did a double take.

"Marty? I didn't know the person they meant was you." They looked around, expecting more people. "What happened to the others, anyway?"

"They're all dead. I'm the only survivor", I managed to say after looking at them, both our faces now full of sorrow.

"I'm sorry. I wish these were better circumstances, but I'll try to lend you a hand anyway. Come on in."

"Thanks, Jack", I replied, looking at his face. "You don't know how much help I need."

 _AN._

 _So? How was that for the third part of this intro? Hope you picked up the hints before the ending, and are looking forward to the next chapter of this saga. Don't worry. I promise I will have this next one out soon, without the monthly waiting period._

 _Hope you make sure to follow me and give reviews. I mean, I know I can do better at writing. I just need you people to add to that, and tell me how I should go about to make it better._

 _Until next time, take care._


	4. First Contact

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 4/First Contact**

 **A.N**

 **Hi, again. Took significantly less time to do this than anticipated, which is a massive plus.**

 **2 things I will say about the chapters leading up until Parting of the Ways/Christmas Invasion.**

 **The flashbacks that are presented here will be a few brief snippets, akin to those on Arrow. However, instead of making them integral to each series, they will all be contained to events happening prior the first series of Doctor Who, with hints of activities thrown in during the "current" situation.**

 **The second thing I will say is that this chapter has a non-linear narrative, so you will be going to see different perspectives of the same day, like in Pulp Fiction.**

 **I may just limit this to Rose (The episode) alone, but depending on how it goes, I'm thinking of doing it for other companion introductions.**

 **With that being said, please enjoy this next instalment of my series, which is rated T for swearing.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who. It is under the property of the BBC.**

 **5 YEARS LATER...**

To say my first meeting with the Doctor kicked off with a bang was a massive understatement…

To get it officially started, I said goodbye to Jack, who helped to send me on my way with supplies.

"Remember, you've got my number. Call me if anything happens to you", he said with care in his voice.

"I will. Thanks for everything", I responded. "I'll try and visit you as much as I can, provided you're not "working" as much."

We both chuckled at the last bit.

"Well, this is the place", Jack said, as we arrived at my destination. "If he doesn't show, you owe me a drink."

"Whiskey, wasn't it?", I asked, remembering his choice of drink.

"Yeah, but just make sure to..."

"Hold the rocks." We spoke in unison, laughing.

"Alright. See you later.", I said, getting out of his car.

"Bye. Good luck", came Jack's reply as he drove off.

I looked up, and knew that I was in the right location. Now, the only things to do were to get my supplies out, and wait it out until the Doctor arrived.

I went to a secure spot where I wouldn't be disturbed, opened my duffle bag that Jack gave me, and set to work.

Rose Tyler was having a pretty normal day, as far as she was concerned.

Wake up, get dressed, go to work, have lunch with her boyfriend, work again and then home.

Today, though, This was when her world would change forever.

As she went to leave, a security guard gestured for her to take the lottery tickets and the money with them downstairs, which wasn't a problem for her, provided Wilson was still about keeping the lights under control, and the lift didn't jam.

She hit the button for the basement floor, and waited as it descended until she heard the "ding" of the doors as they opened to her.

She got out and looked around to see if there was anyone down there.

"Wilson?"

No reply.

"Wilson, it's Rose. I've got the lottery money."

Still silence.

"Wilson?"

She then went to the door in front of Wilson's office and knocked on it.

"Wilson, you there?"

Again, nothing.

She tried to open it.

Locked, as it happened.

"Look, I can't hang about, 'cause they're closing the shop."

She tried once more, this time with anger in her voice.

"Wilson."

After a few seconds, she gave up.

"Oh, come on", she muttered under her breath.

Rose turned to leave, when she heard a loud clattering behind her.

Instantly she was curious to see if there was anyone down there with her.

"Hello?"

Walking towards where she had heard it, she said "Wilson, it's Rose", thinking that he was down working there.

As she walked towards even more silence, she stammered "W-Wilson?", wondering if he actually was there.

Suddenly, she heard what sounded like whispers coming from behind a nearby door.

Opening the door and finding herself in blackness, Rose cautiously turned the light on to find herself in a storage room for the shop mannequins.

"Wilson?", she called out again, hoping that he would answer her.

Nervously, she walked by the mannequins, once more calling Wilson's name.

A red door stood in the middle of the room, which she then went over to and tried to open.

While her back was turned, something closed the previous door, making her jump as it sealed itself.

Immediately, she ran over to it, trying to open a door that by this point was futile.

"Oh, you're kidding me", she said, angrily, trying to make it budge at least a little.

Her efforts were interrupted by a clanking that sounded like it was coming from the other end of the room.

Suspicion came instantly.

"Is that someone mucking about?" she asked, thinking this was someone's sick joke.

"Who is it?" came the irritated second question from her mouth.

As Rose walked by a set of mannequins, now trying to find another way out of this situation, one of them had spun its head around, and was looking directly at her back.

If it wasn't for the creaking of its neck being moved, she wouldn't have noticed it.

Rose spun around at the noise, as it slowly emerged from the shadows, and moved towards her, inch by inch.

"Ok. You got me. Very funny", she said nervously, as another dummy joined the first.

"Right. I've got the joke. Whose idea was this? Was it Derek's?", she asked, demanding an answer to what was happening.

"Derek, is this you?" came the question that was filled with more dread as even more dummies joined the one that had originally popped up, until nearly the whole room was upon her.

Backing up against a wall, she nearly fell into some boxes behind her, from which she recovered quickly, moving towards some pipes while the mannequin's baby steps kept coming.

As a dummy's hand came down in a slow karate chop, she whimpered, and thought it would be the end.

Then, she felt another hand on hers, and in a split second, saw a man's face and heard a single word from him.

"Run!"

And run, they did, for a few seconds later, the dummy's hand came down on the pipes hard, breaking them, and letting hot air spill out.

While this was going on, Rose and this mystery person were running through the basement floor and busting through the doors that they encountered, with the mannequins hot on their tails and began to catch up.

They busted through the last door on this level before they encountered a work lift, which was almost at their level.

The man hit the button to open the doors, which did after a few seconds just in time, to reveal a masked man in a jumper holding a shotgun equipped with a suppressor, pointed at the outside.

He shouted one word, "DUCK!", which they responded quickly to, before unloading it at the dummies, which seemed to slow them down, giving both Rose and the other man time to get in.

Unfortunately, the dummies just kept coming, and nearly got into the lift, only both men were there to diffuse the situation.

The one not masked pulled at a dummy's arm that was nearly through the closing doors of the lift, while the masked man kept bashing the same mannequin's head with both ends of the shotgun, saying "Sorry. There's a weight limit, and you've gone over it."

The doors of the lift finally closed after that ordeal, and the man who had rescued Rose would have been relieved with his "trophy" of the arm, only he was more concerned with the other man who was riding with both him and Rose.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded to know.

"You'll find out soon enough. Right now, I'm the guy that helped you.", came the reply, and that was the only thing spoken by that man in that lift.

Rose at this point didn't know what to think, so she said the only thing that came to her mind, and what made sense to her.

"You pulled its arm off", you said, dumbly.

"Yep. Plastic", as it was tossed to her, making her even more nervous.

"Very clever trick," she said, trying to not make it worse for herself. "Who were they, then? Students? Is this a student thing or what?"

"How would they be students?" The man asked in response, also trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

"I don't know.", came the simple reply.

"You said it. Why students?" The man pressed her, curiously.

Coming up with the best theory she could, Rose said, "Cause, to get that many people dressed up and being silly, it's got to be students."

"That makes sense. Well done", the man congratulated her.

"Thanks", came the sarcastic answer.

The man then turned serious. "They're not students."

Rose had had enough. "Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police."

"Who's Wilson?"

"Chief electrician."

"Wilson's dead", came the reply, and then the doors opened, making both men to step out.

Rose said nothing for a second, then, getting her voice back, she said, "That's just not funny. That's just sick", disgusted by this, while walking out of the lift.

While she had walked out, the unarmed man then took her to the side and told her "Hold on. Mind your eyes."

He then pulled something out of his jacket pocket and then pointed it at the lift controls.

"I've had enough of this now", said Rose, pissed, as sparks now flew from the controls by whatever had caused them.

Both men moved towards the exit, the masked one in front keeping an eye out for trouble, as she whimpered from seeing the sudden sparks appear, and still demanded to know answers to her questions.

"Who are you, then? Who are that lot down there?"

No reply, and then she asked again, more agitated. "I said, who are they?"

The man who helped her replied "They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. And they're being controlled by a relay device on the roof", as all 3 of them walked through the exit corridor.

"Which would be a big problem", he continued, pulling something out of his pocket that looked like C4 with a mini computer in it, "If I didn't have this. So, I'm going to go upstairs and blow it up", as he opened the exit doors for the other 2 to get out.

"And I may die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, You go home. Go on, go home, and have your lovely beans on toast", he said, trying to comfort Rose.

Before he shut the door, he said "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

Rose turned around, gobsmacked for a second, before the door opened again.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose", he said, gleefully, holding up his IED. "Run for your life."

The door was shut again, and this time Rose felt scared. She started running, and kept going until she was a few streets away, trying to keep her breath and heart under control.

She searched for the masked man who had been with her outside, who, by now, - she must have figured – had ran off in search of cover.

Making her way to the front of her workplace, Rose almost didn't see the taxi as she crossed the street, before the driver let out a "Come on, then!", before honking his horn at her.

Thinking the worst was over, she began to breathe normally as she turned away from looking at the roof of her work.

Unfortunately, this was short lived, because an explosion brought her attention right back to it, as the top 2 floors of where she now _used_ to work were now engulfed in flames.

Of course, an explosion like this brought panic to the many people who had been walking down these streets and were now looking to save themselves in case anything else happened.

Rose, not being an idiot, ran home, to make sure that she was one of the lucky ones who stayed away from this insanity.

What she didn't notice, however, was the blue police box that stood on the corner of a backstreet, with the door recently closed and now locked until the next person came…

I opened my bag and smiled.

"Oh, Jack. You shouldn't have."

Inside was a pump-action shotgun with the serial number filed off and gripped so that I could use it easily. 16 modified shells lay in 2 clips next to it, with a suppressor in a small bag because I wanted to do this quickly and quietly.

All of this was wrapped up in a grey jumper, with a mask in the hood of it. It wasn't a balaclava, thank God. God knows what would have happened if I was wearing that.

It was a stone face with the mouth section removed so that I'd have better access to speak when I needed to give orders. The eyes were lined up in a permanent look of anger, which would really help the intimidation. All this was helped with a metal clasp on the back that helped to keep it in place instead of a stringy bit of elastic.

The cherry on top was a set of black gloves that I knew were there to help stop fingerprints and fibres from getting on either part of me or the gun.

I put the gloves on first, and then worked the gun to test its handling, empty of course. Didn't want to start the party _too_ early.

I was satisfied, and then I loaded it up, making sure to put the suppressor on last.

I looked at my watch. Only 2 hours left until the curtain call.

I took out the iPod that I now carried with me and went my way through the playlists I had on it. Finding the perfect one took a while until I smiled when I saw it and picked it to help get the mood going.

As I plugged in my earphones and the opening riff of Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days started playing, I thought back to the first day I met Jack, and what happened after he brought me into this brave new world…

 **5 YEARS EARLIER…**

" _So, this is the place?" I asked, limping into the Torchwood hub._

" _Yeah. Not great, but she's stable for now", came Jack's reply, as he helped me into the lift and down past the "gift shop"._

" _Thanks," I said, groaning._

" _You're welcome. It's the least I can do."_

 _The lift took about 30 seconds to take us down to where the actual lab was._

" _Shit," I said, as the doors opened. "I forgot it was only you here."_

" _I know", Jack said sadly. "It's ok, though. There's not actually anything to do at the moment job-wise, so I can just worry about looking after you."_

" _You have any beds here? Because I could really use a lie down", I said, tired._

" _Not exactly. There's a couch, so, that'll have to do. Hold on. I'll get it settled for you."_

" _Sure" I replied. "It's not like I'm injured or anything."_

" _Smartass", Jack chuckled, as he got a stool for my leg to lean on._

" _Go on. Try that."_

 _Slowly leaning down, I did, making sure my leg was my priority._

 _I went to sleep a while after, this time of my own volition and not of a syringe, but also knowing that there was still dread in my heart from all that I had recently seen, especially the sacrifices made on both my behalf, and that of others who didn't deserve it._

 _Suffice to say, I didn't exactly have pleasant dreams while I slept._

 _Mainly, they were about death. Others, rarely, were about my family, and all that I had left behind._

 _It was a constant battle of scales in my head, with the negative outweighing the positive._

 _As the night went on, they got more and more intense until I woke up in cold sweats gasping for breath, which was made worse, as my bad leg moved and pain filled me._

 _Jack, being the nice guy that he was, had slept near me on another seat just in case of anything happening and when I woke up suddenly, he asked "Are you alright?"_

 _Being honest, I said "No. Bad dreams. Really bad dreams. That, and my leg's acting up."_

" _You want anything for them?" He asked, getting up._

" _Like medicine?"_

" _Something a bit stronger", came the mysterious reply._

 _I waited for a few moments before he came back with 2 glasses, and something told me they weren't filled with fruit juice._

" _Whiskey?" I asked._

" _Yeah. What did you expect?" He laughed, then turned serious. "Plus, whenever I have nightmares, this always helps me calm down."_

" _What kind of nightmares do you have?" I asked, cautiously._

" _None you need to worry about right at the moment. Now, go on. Your nerves won't heal themselves without that to help them."_

" _And what about the leg?"_

" _Same principle. Helps to numb the pain."_

" _Thanks, but I don't drink as much anymore. Never been one to touch a drink in a while, after what happened with my family." I declined, setting mine down beside me._

" _You mind telling me why, if it's ok with you?"_

" _No. It's ok."_

 _I took a deep breath before speaking._

" _My dad was a hardcore drinker. You couldn't go 10 miles without smelling it on his breath. Always one to stop at every pub he came across, no matter the weather. Never been one to be violent towards me and my mum, thankfully, which literally saved our asses a lot of times."_

" _Even so, he knew his limits, both in drink and in morals. Tried to become a better person by going to AA and all that shit._

 _He was almost in the clear, then I guess a bet went wrong between him and his friends, and he collapsed one rainy night in Edinburgh, and never woke up._

 _The police said it was alcohol poisoning. His friends jokingly said he probably sold his soul for one last drink, before he became an honest man making a deal."_

" _All I knew was that I was 12 years old, waiting for my dad to come home from a business meeting, not knowing that neither me nor my mother would see him again until he was buried._

 _After that, my mum tried everything to take her mind off of it. She didn't go down the same path as him, thank God, but she was nearly on her tipping point."_

" _Then, when the whole thing happened with the world being invaded, she went off the deep end, and gave me away to the government instead of holding onto me like a rational parent._

 _It's because of that issue that I don't want to drink, not in large amounts, anyway. In moderation, I don't mind, but I don't want to go down that same path that they did. Sorry I took up your time, Jack. But you wanted to know, and that's my answer."_

 _By this point, tears had nearly formed in my eyes, same as his._

 _Jack then came over to me, and gave me a hug to help calm me down._

" _It's alright, Marty. You've got me."_

" _Thanks. You're a good friend."_

 _I drank the whiskey anyway, which did help the pain go away. Bizarrely, it did help clear my head as well._

 _Jack finished his drink, then put his glass beside mine and stayed with me until the sunrise, holding me as best as he could, and I actually managed to get some more sleep because of him._

 _I woke up again, this time feeling refreshed, and Jack was strangely nowhere to be seen._

" _Jack?" I called out._

" _I'm here. I'm just in the kitchen", came the reply._

 _I got out of my makeshift bed, limping towards him. The pain didn't exactly help with that._

" _So, what's for breakfast?" I asked, hungrily._

" _You can have either toast, pancakes or cereal. Take your pick."_

" _Pancakes", I said, wanting something simple._

" _Pancakes it is," came Jack's rather happy reply._

 _I wondered why he was so happy, until I snapped out of my post sleep trance when I saw Jack. Still in the clothes he wore last night, but now he had an apron on, flipping pancakes like he hadn't a care in the world._

 _I laughed. It was probably the first thing I'd seen this far to cause me to do so._

" _Something funny?" he asked._

" _Yeah. I just never imagined you in the kitchen, that's all."_

" _Are you saying a guy like me can't do a good job in the kitchen?", he joked._

" _Not at all" I responded, smiling. "I'm just saying that with all the shit that I've known you to do, cooking wasn't on the list."_

" _And how big is this list?" Jack asked, putting down his frying pan._

" _Wouldn't you like to know?" I laughed again._

" _Alright, smart guy. Here you go."_

 _He then set a plate down in front of me, filled with – I managed to count – 8 big but firm pancakes, stacked and covered with butter._

" _Holy shit" was my response as he backed away from it, grinning._

" _I take it you like them."_

" _Can't talk. Eating", came my happy and now pancake filled face._

 _Somehow, I managed to finish them off with ease._

" _You know what? I take back what I said. Cooking is definitely on the list", I said as Jack finished off his breakfast, smiling at me._

" _How did I know you'd say that?"_

" _No idea. So, what's next?" I asked, as I handed him my plate._

" _Next is getting your leg looked at. We can't go to a hospital, because you won't have any medical records, and they'll probably take you in somewhere to get prosecuted. And I don't have any friends who'd be willing to help right now. So, that leaves us with here, and what I can do to the best of my abilities. I'm not exactly a trained professional at this, but I'll try regardless. You ready?"_

 _I nodded. "Bring it on."_

" _Alright. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3…"_

 _Jack helped me up, holding my shoulder while I got up slowly._

" _Where's the lab?" I asked, moaning._

" _Over on the right. Slow and steady."_

 _We managed to get there and put me up on a table before Jack got what supplies he had and cut my jeans open to see my leg, which was still bleeding at the knee and had a little bit of pus coming out of it, from all the swelling._

" _Jesus", he said, finally getting a good look at it. "What the hell did this?"_

" _A dog", I said. "A German Shepherd didn't like me stealing food from their family, so they managed to get a piece of me in the process. What can I say? I was hungry, and I was trying to get my way to you."_

" _Well, it sure left its mark on you, no pun intended."_

 _I groaned as Jack tried to get rid of the pus._

 _He stopped and walked away from the table, leaving me to ask "What are you doing?"_

" _Helping you out."_

 _He came back a few second later with a wet towel, which I thought was going to be for the leg, but he said "Put it in your mouth."_

" _What?"_

" _It's to help with the pain. I'm sorry in advance."_

 _Doing what he said, I made sure to put as much of the towel in my mouth leaving enough room to breathe while making sure it was secure._

" _OK." He tensed himself. "Here we go."_

 _Using a strong set of tweezers, he squeezed out the pus that was still in my leg, drop by drop until it was gone._

 _Immediately, I yelled loudly into the towel, my cries muffled as the pain continued to grow._

" _It's ok, Marty. The pain's almost gone. There, look." He gestured to my leg. It was still bleeding a bit, but now that the pus had left it, it slowly began to get less purple from the swelling._

" _Don't worry. I've got some bandages right here."_

 _He then wrapped my leg up in tight loops of bandages and I winced as the pain gradually left._

 _Taking the towel out of my mouth, I tried to move off the table by myself, but again, Jack was there._

" _It's alright. I've got you. Nice and easy."_

" _Thanks, Jack" I said again as he lifted me steadily onto the ground. "I don't know what I'd do without you."_

" _It's nothing. You deserve it."_

 _Jack thought for a moment._

" _It's probably best that you stay here for a while, until your leg gets better. After it is, maybe you can help me about this place, and we can get you some new clothes. I mean, after what you must have went through, I know how it feels to be the last man standing."_

 _There was sadness in his eyes as he saw me and spoke the last part._

" _As soon as it does get better, I'm glad to be of service" I said with confidence. "You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Harkness" I nodded, offering my hand._

" _Well, ok. Welcome to Torchwood, Mr. Smith" he replied, shaking it in agreement._

 **5 YEARS LATER…**

Coming out of my reminiscing, I noticed on my watch that I was now 10 minutes away from my position. The playlist had now been going so long that the current song that brought me out of my trance was Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix, or more specifically, the solo from it.

Taking the earphones out and putting it back in my pocket, I did my best to disguise my efforts so that no-one saw what I did next. I made my way to the delivery doors of Henrick's and silently picked the lock on one of them, which took a few tries before I was successful.

I closed the door behind me and making it seem undisturbed, and trying not to set off the alarms that were sure to go off if I wasn't careful.

Moving forward, I walked through the flaps that were in front of the different sections of the exits before coming to a service lift. I pushed the button to call it, and the doors opened right away.

Stepping into the lift, I looked at my watch. Less than 1 minute to go.

I put the mask over my face and smiled as I hit the button for the basement.

"Showtime", I said, smiling.

As the lift descended and the seconds counted down, I pulled out my shotgun and pointed it at the door, waiting for that golden opportunity…

The lift doors opened, and I saw him. I saw the Doctor.

I also saw both Rose who was with him, of course, and the army of Autons that were behind them.

To make sure they got the message, I yelled "DUCK!"

The second they did and ran behind me into the lift, I made sure to blast the first Auton that was right behind them in the face, making a crater where its nose and eyes used to be.

The others, being somewhat stupid, tried to follow into the lift, one at a time. I fired a few rounds into their chests to slow them down, just in case it wasn't clear enough to them that they should give up.

Still, one idiotic Auton tried to get his arm through the doors as they were closing to reach the Doctor, with its hand opening and closing in a grabbing motion.

Both of us made short work of it. While he was ripping its am off, I quickly turned the safety on, so it wouldn't fire back into the lift, and bashed its head in with the butt of the shotgun.

Judging by the numbers, there were about 10-15 of them trying to get in the lift, and knowing about what happens with overloading them, I said "Sorry. There's a weight limit, and you've gone over it", trying to diffuse the tension.

The doors finally closed on the idiots, and I noticed that the Doctor wasn't as happy saving Rose as he'd like to be. Probably something to do with the guy behind him with a shotgun. I don't know.

I knew he'd be hostile towards me anyway, but he only had one question as we ascended.

"Who the hell are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough", I replied. "Right now, I'm the guy that saved you."

Given that I was the one with the weapon, and there was awkward silence, that was the last thing I spoke in the lift out loud, all the while thinking _"Well, step one's complete. Might as well get ready for step two."_

I noticed that Rose, rightfully so, was scared of the whole situation. Not just me with the shotgun, but the Autons who had made her silent throughout the attack.

I guess she focused on the thing that she could comprehend at least a little, and said to the Doctor, "You pulled its arm off."

"Yep, plastic" he replied, throwing it back to her, both of them trying to avoid looking at me.

"Very funny. Who were they, then. Students? Is this a student thing or what?"

" _Clever girl"_ I thought, smiling internally.

"How would they be students?" the Doctor asked her.

"I don't know" she said, bluntly.

"Well, you said it. Why students?" He pressed her.

Stammering, she said "'Cause to get that many people dressed up and silly like that, it's got to be students."

" _It's a good theory"_ I thought. _"Not the right one, but a good one."_

"That makes sense. Well done" The Doctor said, being a smartass about it.

"Thanks" came her immediate reply.

The Doctor then turned serious as he turned back to the lift doors.

"They're not students."

Rose then got angry, and said "Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police."

" _I highly doubt that"_ I thought. _"Not unless Heaven makes phone-calls back to the living."_

"Who's Wilson?"

"Chief electrician."

"Wilson's dead", he said bluntly, as the lift now stopped and the doors opened.

Both of us stepped out, as Rose, trying to make sense of it all, lingered in the lift and said "That's just not funny. That's just sick."

"Hold on" the Doctor told her, pulling her aside from the lift, taking the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at the lift controls. "Cover your eyes."

I had looked away as he pulled the sonic out anyway, knowing there'd be sparks flying out, which there were, as the controls were blasted, and making Rose jump and whimper.

Leading the way towards the exit, I made sure the Doctor was behind me and Rose was behind us. I heard her shout out "Who are you? Who were all they?"

" _You'll find out soon"_ I thought, " _Whether you like it or not."_

Still, she was impatient."I said, who are they?"

Giving up, the Doctor replied "They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures, and they're being controlled by a relay device on the roof. Which would be a big problem", he continued, pulling something out of his pocket that he'd obviously made by himself, looking like his own version of a "smart bomb". "If I didn't have this. So, I'm going to go upstairs and blow it up."

"And I may die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, You go home. Go on, go home, and have your lovely beans on toast", he said, opening the door for both myself and Rose, while I smirked to myself.

Before he shut the door, he said "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

" _Yeah?"_ I thought. _"Who's gonna believe us, aside from you, Jack and each other?"_

I saw Rose turn around, gobsmacked for a second, before the door opened again.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose", he said, gleefully holding up his IED. "Run for your life."

She did, while I remained still for a few seconds, immediately taking apart the shotgun and dumping the pieces in bins that were located nearby. I then took off the mask and put it in the bin that housed the main casing of the shotgun.

" _Only one more thing to do"_ , I thought, as Rose took off. Knowing the layout of the streets, I made my way to a somewhat familiar sight, which I got to without interference.

I stood in front of it and grinned. "Hello, old girl", came the murmur from my lips as I took Jack's key out from my pocket and opened the door to the TARDIS, which basked me in its glow from within.

Walking in, I turned to close the door behind me and looked at my watch again. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." I said, waiting for the crescendo.

It came, right as I expected. While the door was closing, and I locked it behind me to avoid confusion, the top 2 levels of Henrick's combusted as the Doctor's bomb went off.

Actually looking at the console, I said the obvious, smiling while I did so. "It really is bigger on the inside. This is gonna be fun."

" _And finally, step number 2"_ I thought.

As I walked towards the TARDIS console, I heard the old girl come to life around me, and I guess she was trying to wonder if I was a threat to her or not.

"I'm not hostile. I promise", I said, putting my arms up slowly, and turning around to make sure I was seen by all angles of her. "Look. No weapons. Not unless you think sarcasm is one."

A groan came from the centre. "What? You didn't like that joke?" I said, smiling a little.

More sounds came from the surroundings, which I guess was her way of saying "no".

"Alright. How about this one?" I started, laughing as I remembered the jokes that Jack used to tell me. *"So, the Devil walks into a bar..."

A few minutes later, I was literally rolling on the floor laughing as I told the TARDIS yet another joke, and it seemed that I wasn't the only one that was having fun. The lights within her pulsed on and off rapidly, which I thought was her trying not to laugh a lot.

"And then the guy says to the genie *"Well, I've always wanted to donate a kidney..."." I cried with tears in my eyes.

The fun soon stopped, as I then heard the TARDIS doors open and the Doctor walked in, happy until he saw me and called out "Who are you, how did you get in here, and what are you doing?"

"This isn't what it looks like", I said, as the Doctor gave me a dirty look, recognising the jumper that I still wore from the infiltration.

"Ok, maybe it is what what it looks like, but I can explain", I said, getting up quickly, before he came over to hit me.

"You'd better, unless you'd like to tell me why you were waving a gun near my head a few minutes ago" came the angry response.

"Last time I checked, I saved your ass in there." I fired back quickly. "And, I could ask you the same, the way you went about dealing with those Autons after I left."

"I was on a mission to get rid of them, and I… Hold on", the Doctor spoke, as he realised what I'd just said. "How do you know they were Autons? No-one except for me knows what they're called, and that's going back a long while."

"I know of you, what _she_ is" I said, gesturing to the TARDIS, "and of youradventures, and because of that, I need your help" I replied, honestly. "That's all. Right now, I need your help with a problem. One that, to me, is really complicated."

"How complicated?"

"Like, intergalactic end of the world, complicated" I said.

The Doctor said nothing for a few seconds, then spoke, pointing his finger at me.

"I'll think about it, but first, you need to change your attitude towards guns. They're violent and they'll get people killed."

"Like you did, you mean?" I asked, quietly, knowing about what he'd said in the future about the Time War.

No response came, as he contemplated what to do next.

"Alright. What's your name?" he asked at last.

"My name's Marty. Marty Smith."

"Marty?"

"Yeah. Parents were Back to the Future fans. Go figure", I chuckled.

"Next off, how did you get in here?"

"Someone you trust gave me a key" I said, "and I used that to get in here." _"I mean, it's technically true"_ I thought. _"It is a key that I did get from Jack, whom he trusts."_

"And why do you need my help?"

"You sure you want to know?" I asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do" came the Doctor's sardonic reply, sitting down and patting a seat next to him. "Come on. Tell me all about it. We've got all the time in the world."

Groaning at his pun, I sat down, and told him my story, leaving out the part where I met Jack and making up an alternate ending where the name was anonymous.

He never made a sound throughout it, aside from the "I'm sorry" towards the end as I went through what happened on the ship.

"So, you went to the contact, and they helped you out until I showed up?" was the only question he spoke as I got through the last bit of my tale.

"Yeah. They helped to train me for you", I said. "A one man army. It would have been more, but..." I cut off, remembering the losses made by everyone. "It took 5 long years to get to where I am now, but right now, they're worth it."

"Well, don't worry. I'll be here to help", The Doctor finally replied at last. "First thing's first, we get you new clothes."

"No, you really shouldn't", I said, feeling a very extreme sense of deja vu about going through my clothing options.

"I insist. Plus, that jumper is going to stick out like a sore thumb, so you might want to get rid of it."

" _Killing a lot of birds with one stone"_ I thought.

"Care to show me around then, or will I need a lot of string to navigate?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Might as well, seeing as how you'd probably get lost a lot in here," came the response.

So, the Doctor took me on his version of a trip. He might as well have called it TARDIS Park, it was that massive.

"Wow. This is amazing" I said, eyes wide in awe at everything, from the swimming pool to an exhibit room, and more, as we got to what looked like my room. "Wait, so I can have anything in my room – within reason of course – and it won't affect the rest of the TARDIS?"

"Yep. Exactly as you see fit."

"Sweet."

"I'll just leave you alone then. Remember what way you came, so you won't be in trouble to find the exit doors."

"I won't", I replied happily, as the door closed and I was in my own room.

Looking around, I wasn't dissatisfied with what was in it. There was a bed, of course, as well as a desk big enough for a computer and a mini bookcase next to it, plus room for other items to go into it.

What surprised me, though was the wardrobe size here.

I knew of the Doctor's wardrobe from watching The Christmas Invasion, which I dreaded as I remembered feeling sorry for things that hadn't happened yet.

What I didn't realise, however, was that the rooms had their own separate wardrobes for companions, which made the 400+ zigzags I had made to get here actually worth it.

Taking both my phone and my iPod out of my pockets, I picked and chose new items from my new collection.

I got rid of the grey jumper that I had wore and was now getting a bit of the gunpowder smell off of it, which I had to agree that it needed to go.

I chucked it in what looked like either a wash basket or a bin for rubbish, then replaced the striped t-shirt I had wore under it with a cleaner Led Zeppelin one, which was actually something that I couldn't believe the TARDIS could do. Then again, I guess she could go through memories of what you used to wear and replicate it here, which saved me a lot of time picking and choosing.

"Thanks" I told her out loud. "I take it that means you trust me now, at least a little."

I then felt a little tingle in my head that might have been the telepathy sounding like her talking to me. "Don't count on it yet", it seemed to say in a joking tone.

"Ok. Not a big fan of making friends instantly. I get it", I said, at last.

Finally, I picked out a green jacket that looked fitting for me and put it on.

Sitting down on the bed, I picked up my phone, and went to the contacts page.

Choosing his name, I sent a message to Jack that just said "First round's on you, mate. Next time, think of something better." I finished by putting the smiley face after it.

A few seconds later, he jokingly replied with "Ahh well. You can't win 'em all. Talk to you soon."

"I will. Until the next time" I told him, turning the phone off, putting in my pocket and finishing the conversation. Before I left my room and closed the door, I lifted my earphones out and put them under my t-shirt in case I wanted to listen to music later without them being as noticeable.

There wasn't anything to do now, so I walked back to the central console of the TARDIS where the Doctor was waiting.

"So. Everything to your liking, then?" he asked as he noticed me.

"More or less. Now, I believe we were talking about Autons earlier", I said.

"What about your problem? You made it seem like it was urgent."

"Even if I did want to start it now, where would we begin?" I asked. "Literally no-one knew about the event when it happened, and it would take too long to go through the options about how, why and who.

Added on the fact that there's probably infinite universes, how do we know that we're going for the right one instantly? Yes, this is a time and space travelling machine, but that would still take a miracle to go through each universe without breaking her apart each time."

The Doctor stood there amazed. "You've really done your homework on this thing, haven't you?"

"I waited for 5 years to get to you", I said. "That amount of time and thinking keeps you up at night, whether you want it to or not."

"Alright. Fine" the Doctor spoke. "Until we can actually do something about your problem, you're with me, got it?"

"Wasn't that the case anyway?" I said.

"You've got a point" he said, reluctantly.

Going back to our earlier conversation, I asked "So, where are we on the Auton situation?"

"I managed to track down a signal down to a housing estate on the scanner here", replied the Doctor. "We just need to get there and see what the problem is."

"Seems simple enough."

"It should be. That's why we're going together, and I'm gonna keep an eye on you."

"Are you serious?" I wondered.

"Oh, yeah. I don't want any of your gun-waving while you're with me here, no matter how much you may want to do it."

"Fine" I muttered angrily.

"Now, you may want to hold on for this next bit" the Doctor spoke, as he started using the TARDIS' controls. "It's gonna be a bit bumpy."

"I've dealt with worse. I can handle myself", I jokingly replied.

"Not this time. Get ready."

To be fair to the Doctor, he was right. As soon as he pulled the lever and the TARDIS dematerialised, making its signature noise, I was flown back into the railings around it, yelling "Fuck!" as my head connected with the metal and an audible "Dung!" rang out from the contact.

It only took seconds for us to travel to where the signal came from, but I was that out of it that it felt much longer.

Helping me up, the Doctor said "I did warn you. You might want to keep that as a lesson towards you not listening to me next time", gesturing towards the back of my head, where a lump was now growing. Trust me. Cartoons made this look hilarious, but I felt pain whenever I touched it.

"Are we there yet?" I asked, still a bit woozy.

"Yep. Just look outside the doors."

I walked towards the TARDIS doors and opened them, making sure not to bump into any more of it while trying to recover from the still-forming lump on my head.

Remembering that it had been night the last time I saw the outside, I wasn't surprised when I saw that it was now early in the morning.

What was surprising was that when I looked at my watch to confirm the time, it had jumped from 8.45pm to 7.25am all in literally a matter of seconds.

"Woah, this is heavy" I said, unintentionally quoting my movie counterpart.

The Doctor, meanwhile had taken off quickly, sonic screwdriver at the ready and scanning around him.

"Anything?" I asked, catching up to him.

"Signal's strong. It's coming from one of these flats."

"You want to split up, or…?"

"No. Remember, you're with me on this. Besides, I don't think it'll take too long to find it."

"What makes you so sure?"

He scanned around again, as the sonic got louder, dowsing for the signal. "Because it's closer than you think."

I looked up, and I realised where we were, thinking _"Oh, God. Rose, I am so sorry."_

Already the Doctor had made his way to her flat, to which I followed suit.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed, as he bent down to her cat-flap and used the sonic to take out the screws. "Someone's gonna hear you."

"It's fine. Nothing to worry about", he said, putting the sonic away, still with his head to the flap.

We then heard footsteps on the other side of the door and a hand knocked it a bit, to see if there was anything on our end. Then the hand lifted it, and the Doctor saw Rose again through it.

Immediately, both of them leapt to their feet as she opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" The Doctor asked her.

"I live here", Rose replied.

"Well, what did you do that for?"

"'Cause I do" came her angry response. "I'm only here because someone blew up my job."

The Doctor pulled the sonic out of his pocket and said "We must have got the wrong signal. You're not made of plastic, are you?" as he nearly poked Rose in the head with it as he scanned her. "Nope. Bonehead. Bye, then."

Rose then saw me with him, and putting the pieces together, she said "Both of you, inside, right now", as we were dragged into her flat.

I then heard Jackie's voice as she asked "Rose, who is that?"

The good excuse Rose gave to her was "They're part of the inquiry about last night. Give us 10 minutes."

"She deserves compensation!" Jackie yelled again, as I walked by the Doctor into where Rose was, whispering to him "I don't want anything to do with this."

"She deserves millions", he told Jackie sarcastically.

As Jackie then failed in her attempts to get the Doctor on her "good" side, I sat down on a seat that Rose was clearing out, while she said "Don't mind the mess. You want a coffee?"

"No, thank you" I replied.

"Might as well, thanks. Just milk." the Doctor told her.

"We should go to the police" Rose spoke from the kitchen. "I'm serious. All 3 of us."

"That won't last", The Doctor said to himself as he picked up a magazine and turned to an article. "He's gay and she's an alien."

"Try and take this seriously" I told him, wanting to get this over and done with.

"I'm not blaming you" Rose called out again. "Even if it was some sort of joke that went wrong."

"Sad ending", the Doctor murmured, picking up a book and skimming to the last few pages.

"Please, God. Let this end soon", I muttered to myself.

"It said on the news they found a body" the voice of Rose continued.

"Rose Tyler", the Doctor spoke, picking up a letter and reading it, then turned to a mirror of which he actually noticed his face, possibly for the first time since he regenerated.

"Could have been worse. Look at the ears" as he played with his earlobes.

I had now zoned out from his antics, even as he tried to stack a deck of cards lying about which failed miserably.

I wasn't doing that for long though, as I heard a pattering from behind the seat that I was sitting on and I looked over, thinking " _What the hell?"_ as the Doctor, also curious, asked Rose "Do you have a cat?", to which she replied "No."

Too late, we noticed what it was, as the arm that had been detached from the Auton earlier now attacked me, and went straight for my throat.

Choking for air, I tried to keep the arm off me, as the Doctor tried to help by pulling it.

While this happened, Rose had now walked back in with their drinks, and thinking it was a joke, she said "I thought I told Mickey to chuck that out. You're all the same. Give a man a plastic hand..."

As the air was rapidly leaving me by the second, she asked the Doctor. "You never told me your name. Doctor what was it?"

Now, thinking I was near death, the arm detached and left me and went for its new target, namely Rose.

It flew over to her face, and didn't let go, even when he tried to pull it off her or when both of them fell into the table. No, not until the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver trying to find the right frequency to subdue it did it finally stop for good.

All 3 of us gasped for breath, though me especially, as I had been its original victim, and was now making sure there weren't any bruises from it.

"There you go. I've stopped it, you see?" He told Rose as it was tossed to her again. "Armless."

"You think?" she replied, hitting him with it, as I offered up my own rebuttal, only getting my voice back for a few seconds which I used to tell him "fuck you", before coughing and spluttering.

When all 3 of us managed to actually get the flat cleaned up a bit, we left, going down the stairwell at the end of the building.

"Hold on a minute," called Rose, chasing down after us. "You can't just go swanning off."

"Yes, I can. This is me, swanning off." The Doctor replied with a flourish. "See ya!"

"That arm moved. It tried to kill me."

"10 out of 10 for observation. Well done."

"You've got to tell me what's going on", Rose said, impatiently.

"No, we don't."

We got to the bottom, and went through the doors, but Rose still wouldn't give up.

"Alright, then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everybody. You said if I did that, I'd get people killed, so your choice. You start talking, or I'll tell everyone."

Still trying to get my voice back, while coughing I said "Who's gonna believe you?", while the Doctor looked on in shared amusement.

"Is that supposed to sound tough?" He asked her, smiling.

"Sort of."

"Doesn't work."

She then asked a different question.

"Who are you?"

"Told you, I'm the Doctor."

"And I'm Marty" I replied, still not getting my breath back all the way.

"Yeah, but Doctor what?"

"Just the Doctor."

"The Doctor?" she asked, still not believing it.

"Hello!" he replied, giving a cheery wave.

"Is that meant to be impressive?"

He looked at Rose and said "Sort of."

Thinking she was better than both of us, Rose said "Come on, you can tell me. Are you the police?"

"No", both of us replied. "We were just passing through. We're a long way from home."

"So, why are they coming after me?"

"They weren't coming after you", I told her, finally getting my breath back before the Doctor could speak. "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. _He_ was their focus, not you. He was doing his own operation, you manage to mess it up a bit, I showed up to help you out, and now _this",_ referring to the arm.

The Doctor continued, saying "We were tracking it down, while it was tracking us down in the process. The only reason it went after you is because you met me."

Not wanting to get involved now, I walked behind both of them and took my earphones out. Picking out the next song choice was simple. I smiled as a graphic of The Who showed up and I selected one of my favourites, quite fittingly being "Who Are You".

As the Doctor and Rose walked and talked in front of me, I was blissfully ignorant of their conversation, even though I could read their lips to know exactly what they were saying to each other.

We managed to get back to where the TARDIS was, and I walked towards it, looking back over my shoulder, as I saw the Doctor still talking to Rose.

"You coming?!" I yelled back to him.

"Yeah. Hold on."

As he finished talking with her, he turned back and came over to me, with a look of sadness on his face.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, as he unlocked the TARDIS.

"Me? Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" he replied, as we both went in.

Shutting the doors behind us, I said "Because I know that look, Doctor. I see it in the mirror every time I think of _my_ world. Don't worry. I'll help you, and you help me. That's how we can get through this."

"I know. I know."

Referring to Rose, I said "She's probably on her way now to try and research you, go to someone who has theories about you, and they'll tell her you're dangerous. The sad thing is, they'll get killed as a result of just knowing about you."

"How do you know about this?" the Doctor asked me.

"You don't exactly leave quietly when it comes to history", I said. "You're like the Keyser Söze of time travel, always causing suspicion in people's minds."

Saying nothing for a few seconds, the Doctor then asked, "We need to find this person, then, before it's too late."

"Why?" I asked him. "Even if we save this person, it's only gonna carry the burden onto someone else who knows about you. It's gonna be a never-ending cycle."

"Plus", I added, "Rose is now caught up in this. Right now, we need to protect her, in case this happens again. Which, knowing you and now me, is certain."

The Doctor, then realising what that meant, flew around to the controls as he located Rose.

His face turned into a concerned gesture.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at it.

"Trouble" he put simply. "Come on, we're away again."

Holding on this time, I braced myself as the TARDIS flew off again and I yelled "Where is the signal?"

"Close!"

We landed with a thump, and I said "Really need to work on those landings."

As I got up, the Doctor had once again took off towards where the signal was coming from, which turned out to be a restaurant.

"Goddamnit", I muttered, chasing towards him.

"So, what's the plan?" I inquired, finally getting close to him, as we now looked through the restaurant window from the kitchen.

"I'm gonna go in and be a waiter", he replied. "What? It'll help me blend in", as he noticed my smiling face.

"Fine", I said. "I'll provide cover, because we'll need a way out back to the TARDIS. Ready? Go."

While the Doctor left through the door and tried to elevate the restaurant's 4 star rating, I was trying to search through the supplies in the kitchen to make a weapon in case things went south.

I thought _"Knives wouldn't leave a scratch on an Auton",_ so that plan was gone.

Noticing a fly that was buzzing around, I had an idea. I only needed the right equipment….

There was a cupboard in the back of the kitchen for the cleaning supplies, and I managed to find bug spray in there.

The second part was even easier. One of the chefs here must have lit up more times than a Christmas tree, because their lighter was still sitting on a worktop.

I grabbed it up, and smiled. Now, the Doctor just needed to do his part…

As it turned out, I didn't have to wait long at all. I mean, the screaming was a big factor. That, and the alarms that went off.

I propped the kitchen door open for the Doctor and Rose as they ran past me, with the Mickey Auton head in the former's hands.

"Nice of you to get ahead of the rivals, then" I shouted, closing the door behind me, while aiming with my makeshift flamethrower at the headless waxwork now approaching.

Backing up towards the exit, I kept my weapon ready, as the Doctor pulled me away, and used the sonic on the door, trapping it for a good bit.

Rose had tried to run towards the gates, which were locked, and for some reason had not noticed the TARDIS in the middle. Either it was fear talking, or the perception filter had done such a good job.

"Open them. Use the tube thing", she desperately called out.

"Sonic screwdriver."

"Whatever. Just open them!"

"Nah. Tell you what", he told her calmly. "Let's go in here."

He unlocked the TARDIS door, as I yelled to Rose "Get in there! I can hold it off."

Still not understanding, Rose didn't do anything, even as the banging from the Ken doll reject nearly broke through the door.

"We can't hide in a wooden box!" she called out again, trying to unlock the chains around the gates.

"It's not just a box" I said, still focusing on the beaten door that was nearly off its hinges.

At this point, I was expecting it to break open and "Here's Johnny" to come from its mouth.

Finally, Rose gave in, and yelled "Doctor!", as she ran into the TARDIS.

The second she did, I heard the door open, and she ran out again, looking around it.

" _Should have made a bet on her"_ I thought, smiling grimly.

As she finished her lap and ran back in, the door I was guarding then broke open as a hand busted through it.

"How about a little fire, scarecrow?!" I shouted, as I pressed the bug spray down, at the same time flicking on the lighter.

To my surprise, neither of them worked.

"Seriously?!" I said, testing them twice more, which did nothing before dropping them to the ground. "Fuck it" I mumbled, and made my way through the TARDIS doors, where Rose was being introduced to her.

"Well, he's still coming" I told the Doctor, who had placed the faux Mickey head onto the console.

"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." was what I heard as I closed the doors behind me.

I turned around to look at Rose, who was now facing the Doctor.

"Right, where do you want to start?" He asked her, simply.

"The inside's bigger than the outside." started Rose.

"Yep." we both replied.

"It's alien."

Again "Yep."

"Are you 2 aliens?"

The Doctor said "Yes", while I said "No. I'm human."

"Is that alright?" he asked Rose.

"Yeah", was all she could say.

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing" the Doctor said, while I continued, saying "It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

Rose now looked like she was about to cry, so I took out a tissue and handed it to her.

"That's alright. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."

That's not what concerned her, though.

"Did they kill him? Mickey. Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" was what she asked.

"I didn't think of that", the Doctor said, sadly.

"You pulled off his head. They copied him, and you didn't even think to check. And now you're just gonna let him melt?"

" _Melt?"_ both myself and the Doctor looked at each other, and realising, said "No, no, no, no."

"What's happening?" Rose asked, confused.

"That same signal we're tracking is fading, and we're going after it." I told her. "Hold on tight."

"Almost there", the Doctor shouted as the Tardis groaned into her life and we travelled again. "Almost there!"

As the Tardis came to a stop, the Doctor was already running out the door.

"Come on," I told Rose, as I too left.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" she called out to me as I left the door open a bit.

"Wanna bet?" I turned around and asked her, with a grin on my face.

The two of us left the Tardis, Rose having more shock as we now walked out onto the end of the London Bridge.

"We were co close. We nearly had the signal, and we lost it", the Doctor said, nearly angry.

"We can still find it. Don't worry" I told him.

Rose meanwhile had wondered about the mechanics of the Tardis. "How does it move? Does it fly?" She asked.

"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand, the Doctor said, still angry.

"That moron we left will be gone, right?" I asked the Doctor, referring to the Auton.

"Oi!" said Rose, hitting my arm. "That's my boyfriend you're on about."

"Yep. The head melted, so the body will as well, like it was never there."

"Except for the property damage, everyone in there who was screaming and the massive holes in the back door", I said, sarcastically as I rubbed where Rose hit it. "Yep. Completely invisible."

Rose was still talking about Mickey. "I'll have to tell his mum." She looked at the Doctor. "Mickey. I'll have to tell his mum he's dead. You just went and forgot about him again."

She turned away from us as she said "You were right. You are alien."

"He's not dead", I tried to say, but she was too angry at the Doctor to listen.

"Look, even if I did forget about some kid called Mickey…"

"He's not a kid!" she yelled at him.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering about on top of this planet, alright?!" he yelled back.

"Alright?" Rose asked, confused.

"Yes, it is!" the Doctor shouted back at her, ending their anger.

Still not content with the questions, Rose asked "If you are an alien, how come you sound like you're from the north?"

"Lots of planets have a north" was his answer, as he folded his arms.

"What's a police public call box?"

I answered that saying "It's a 1950s phone box. It's like this because it's a disguise for the Tardis."

He final questions were about what we had to do now.

"And, this living plastic, what's it got against us?"

"Nothing", we both replied, as the Doctor took over explaining, "It loves you. You've got such a good planet, full of smoke and oil plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air. Perfect. That's exactly what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war. All its protein planets rotted. So Earth: Dinner."

"Is there any way of stopping it?" Rose asked, curious.

"Glad you asked," I replied, as the Doctor took a beaker out from one of his pockets, filled with a navy blue liquid.

"Antiplastic", the Doctor said.

"Antiplastic?" Rose asked again.

"Antiplastic", I smiled as the Doctor held it.

"But first we need to find it. How do you hide something in a city that small?" The Doctor wondered.

"Hold on. Find what?" Rose inquired.

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"What does it look like?"

"A transmitter. Round and massive, somewhere slap-bang in the middle of London. A huge, metal, circular structure, like a dish, like a wheel, radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible."

While the Doctor had been explaining this to Rose and technically myself, he was his normal Doctor level of ignorant stupidity, where avoided the needle – or in this case eye – in the haystack.

When he finished talking, I looked at Rose and we both smiled, as we knew what it was.

"Do you want to tell him, or should I?" I asked her, trying not to laugh.

"Tell me what?"

"Nah," she said. "Give him a few seconds to work it out."

"Work what out?" The Doctor asked, still confused.

"All the sights in London, and he still needs more eyes to see it", I joked.

Now the Doctor was really confused.

He looked back around, giving himself a proper view of the London Eye, and - managing to work it out - said "Oh." Grinning back at us, he said his number one line of this regeneration. "Fantastic."

We then ran off down the Tower Bridge until we got to the entrance of the London Eye.

As we came to a stop, the Doctor said "Think of it. Plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to be alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables", listing off examples.

My blood ran cold as he said the last 2, because I remembered putting my earphones under my t-shirt when I changed clothes. Right now, they would only be inches away from my neck, ready to strangle me.

"The breast implants" Rose added.

"Still, we've found that transmitter. The Consciousness must be underneath" the Doctor told us, as I hastily took out my earphones and shoved them back into my pocket. I didn't want to listen to any music until this was over, no matter how tempting it was.

Rose had went to look for the entrance while I was putting them away, and she yelled out "What about over here?", pointing down at a drain tunnel.

"Fantastic", the Doctor said again. "Looks great to me."

"Here we go again" I muttered.

Then we made our way down to where Rose had pointed out, on top of which was a wheel that had to be turned.

"After you", I said sarcastically to the Doctor, who had already climbed down in.

"You go next, Rose. I'll go in last", I told her, as I patiently waited for my turn to go down.

When all 3 of us were down in the tunnel, we made our way past some chains to encounter a metal door. Giving the Doctor a hand with it, we pushed it open and progressed down a metal catwalk, where we stopped and the Doctor spoke.

"The Nestene Consciousness. That's it inside the vat. A living plastic creature."

"Well then, pour your Antiplastic in and let's go", Rose said impatiently.

"We're not here to kill it", the Doctor answered her. "We've got to give it a chance."

"Speak for yourself" I mumbled.

As we made ourselves further down the catwalk, the Doctor stopped again, this time talking to the Nestene.

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness, under peaceful contract according to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

The only response we got from the Nestene was a gurgle that only the Doctor understood.

"Thank you. If I might have permission to approach."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone familiar, and motioned to Rose, who then saw who I meant.

"Oh, my God. Mickey", she whispered, running down the stairs to get him.

Mickey was nearly scared shitless at this point as Rose ran down the steps to comfort him, saying "It's alright Mickey. It's me."

"T-The plastic" he whispered to her. "That vat of plastic down there. It can talk."

"You're stinking" she told him. "Doctor, Marty. They kept him alive."

"Of course they kept him alive", the Doctor continued. " That was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."

"You knew that and you never said?" Rose asked, angrily.

"I tried to tell you earlier", I replied, "But you were too busy arguing with him to notice."

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" The Doctor asked, trying to be polite.

He reached the bottom of the stairs as I joined him, making sure he had a backup.

"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" He shouted down.

A growl came from the vat.

"Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the biggest respect, that you shunt off?"

This time, the Nestene yelled in anger.

"Oh, don't give me that. It was an invasion, plain and simple", the Doctor retorted."Don't talk about constitutional rights."

The Nestene wasn't happy now, and started wailing, until the Doctor yelled out simply "I am talking!"

Trying to get his emotions back under control and make the situation less hostile, the Doctor pleaded "This planet is only just starting. These stupid little people have only learned to walk. But they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."

"Shit" I said in fear, hearing the Autons that were approaching the two of us. "Doctor, behind you!"

Too late the Doctor saw them, as four grabbed both of us, with one of them reaching into the Doctor's pocket and pulling out the antiplastic, while the other held him by his collar.

I meanwhile, was nearly getting choked as they were about to give me their version of a bear hug.

"That was just insurance" the Doctor called out in the Auton's arms. "I wasn't gonna use it."

Again, the Nestene yelled out in anger.

"We're not attacking you!" I yelled to the Nestene. "We're not your enemy. I swear. We're not!"

The Nestene growled again, confusing the Doctor.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Then, the Nestene's prize was unveiled, as the Tardis showed up in a ray of harsh light.

"No, no, no, no" he said, attempting to reason with it. "Honestly no."

More growls came from the Nestene.

"Yes, that's my ship" he spoke, quietly.

I let out a few tears as the Nestene yelled with a fiery rage the next time, as I guessed that it was saying that the Time Lords helped to kill its species, to which the Doctor pleaded with it, saying "That's not true. I should know. I fought in the war. It's not my fault."

This time, I understood more of the Nestene's "speech" as it yelled out "You could have helped us!"

"I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" he tried once more, again being futile.

"What is it?" Rose shouted down.

"It's the Tardis!" The Doctor cried out. "The Nestene's identified it as superior technology. It's terrified!"

Wanting to save her, I shouted "It's going to the final base. Get out of here. Go, now!"

Rose must have felt her phone vibrate, because she took it out and answered it.

"Mum?" she asked, scared.

" _Oh shit. I forgot about Jackie."_ I thought, knowing what was about to happen to her.

Knowing only half of the situation, I heard her say "Mum, just go home. Go home right now."

"Hello? Mum?" she asked again, as the signal was cut off.

Suddenly, a web of electricity surrounded the Nestene and shot straight up, through the roof of where it was.

"It's the signal" both myself and the Doctor said. "It's transmitting now."

As we both continued to struggle with the Autons holding us, I yelled to Rose, "Get out now!"

"The stairs have gone!" she called back, and ran with Mickey to the front of the Tardis.

Then, all of us heard 2 very distinct words come from the… "mouth?" of the Nestene. "Time Lord".

"Do something!" I called out to Rose.

Thankfully, she did. Even if she had to shake Mickey off her leg first.

She ran to where an axe was held up at the wall for emergencies. And boy, was this a fucking emergency…

"I've got no A Levels", she said, preparing to strike. "Got no job. No future. But I tell you what I have got."

She swung the axe at a nearby chain.

"Jericho Street Junior Street under-sevens gymnastics team. I got the bronze", she said, triumphantly, as she held onto the chain and ran, jumping off and bumping into the Auton who had the Doctor's back.

It fell into the Nestene's vat, along with the second one, who was still carrying the antiplastic it had lifted from him in its hand, all 3 of them were dissolved.

While those 2 were getting distracted by Rose's boots, I finally got my arms up from behind me and quickly judo-flipped the two alongside me into the vat where they could join their friends.

The Doctor managed to catch Rose who was still swinging from the chain and I got up, quickly recovering, as I heard him say "Now we're in trouble."

"Right behind you", I said, running back with them to the Tardis.

Opening the doors to it, which took a bit longer thanks to Mickey holding it like a Christmas present, the Doctor got all 4 of us in, before we took off.

We landed back on terra firma in a street just a few minutes away from where the ambulance crews were going to help people.

The second we did, Mickey ran out, scared out of his mind and wanting to leave and not come back.

I saw Rose go to comfort him and I couldn't help but be sad for him. I mean, how often do you go from being a normal human being to getting duplicated into a plastic copy, who then has to spend their time around the alien that made the duplication, and not know when or even _if_ they're getting rescued?

On top of that, you've just been inside an alien spaceship for the first time and you want to go home immediately. Who _wouldn't_ shit themselves at a time like that?

"Go easy on him" I told the Doctor from inside the Tardis as he stood in the doorway. "He's been through a tough day. Please don't make this any worse for him."

Acknowledging my request, he told Rose "Nestene Consciousness: easy" as he snapped his fingers.

"You were useless in there. Both of you would be dead if it wasn't for me" she pointed out.

"Yes, we would. Thank you" we both replied, my voice much quieter.

"Right, then. We'll be off", the Doctor told her. "Unless, I don't know. You could come with us."

"This box isn't just a London-op you know. Goes anywhere in the universe. Free of charge", he added with a smile.

Walking towards the doors as he spoke, I arrived as Rose asked "Is it always this dangerous?"

"Pretty much" I replied. "This type of adventure is always filled with surprises. The only thing left to wonder is "How much can the universe surprise me now?"."

"Yeah, I can't" Rose told us. "I've got to go find my mum, and someone's gotta look after this lazy lump, so..."

"Ok" the Doctor and I said, looking at each other. "We understand. See you around."

We closed the doors on the Tardis, and we took off again.

"You're missing out, you know" I told him. "For all the shit she's dealing with, we need someone like her with us. Otherwise it's just 2 guys flying a spaceship. Not exactly Wash and Mal Reynolds, I can tell you that," I said, laughing.

"How do you know?", he asked, not believing me.

Cracking my knuckles, I said "Ok. I'll make you a bet. I bet you £10 of the current money in my pocket, that if we tell Rose it also travels in time and she chooses to go to the future first, she can stay. If she doesn't go to the future first, we'll let her go as she is, with no interference from either of us. Deal?" I asked, offering my hand.

"Let me see the money first. I want to know you're legit about this bet."

"Fair's fair," I replied, pulling out indeed a crisp £10 note from my wallet and showing it to him. "It's not counterfeit. It's a real and genuine note."

"Alright, Marty. You've got yourself a deal. Get ready to see a master at work" he said, shaking my hand.

He leapt over to the controls again and we went back to the exact same spot that we had left Rose off.

"You do the honours," I told him, as he strutted off to the doors and opened them.

"By the way. Did I mention? It also travels in time" he said to Rose as she looked back at us arriving back.

Leaving the door open for her, he walked back to me at the console as Rose then ran towards us, ready to help get the next adventure out among the stars…

 **A/N 2.**

 **Thanks again for reading this chapter, and remember to follow and review for more.**

 **The reason why I put "*" beside the two jokes, was that if you wanted to know the rest of them, I will tell you now.**

 **"The Devil walks into a bar, and everyone clears out except for an old man sitting hunched over at the bar. The Devil then walks over to the man and asks "Why are you not as afraid of me as everybody else?" The man replies "I've been married to your sister for the past 30 years. Why the Hell should I be afraid of you?"**

 **A man is on the beach and finds a genie in a bottle. The genie tells him that he can have anything he wants for his 3 wishes, but when he gets it, every single lawyer in the world gets double. The man first asks for £1,000,000, and the genie replies "Now every lawyer in the world is £2,000,000 richer." The man's second wish is that he had a Ferrari, and the genie tells him the same thing as the money. Asking the man what his third wish is, the man replies with "Well, I've always wanted to donate a kidney..."**

 **Anyway, if you did enjoy this chapter, get ready for the biggest bang ever. No, not the beginning of the world. Rather, its end, and the party that gathered for it...**

 **Until next time.**


	5. And I Feel Fine

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 5 – And I Feel Fine**

 **AN - Hi again, and welcome back to another chapter of this adventure. In the last chapter, Marty finally encountered the Doctor and helped him out with both the Autons, and Rose.**

 **In this chapter, we find them going to a somewhat familia** **r, yet unfamiliar sight, and seeing what happens when people celebrate a planet's death.**

 **To find out more, all you have to do is read on and enjoy.**

 **I do not own the rights to Doctor Who. It is owned by the BBC.**

 **This chapter is rated T for swearing, which may not be suitable for a certain demographic. So, if you _are_ a certain demographic, keep away.**

Rose ran through the Tardis doors and closed them behind her, as the Doctor asked "Right then, Rose Tyler. You tell us. Where do you wanna go? Backwards or forwards in time? It's your choice. What's it gonna be?"

Knowing that I had this bet in the bag, I waited for her answer, as the Doctor looked at me, thinking he would win this easily.

"Forwards", she said eventually.

"Called it!" I yelled out, happily. "Pay up."

"Alright. Give me a second", the Doctor said, as he fished out his own £10 note from his pocket.

"Called what?" Rose asked, confused.

"Before we came back, I bet him that if you were told that it travelled in time and you chose to go to the future, I would win" I said. "Plus, you're now along with us for the ride, so get ready for adventures galore."

"Are you serious?" Rose asked me, angrily. "You think I'm worth a bet?"

"I knew this might happen in advance and I'm really sorry." I told her. "I swear it won't happen again. I was just seeing if it would come true. I have sort of an outsider knowledge when it comes to the Doctor's travels through the cosmos. I can't predict the future accurately, but I can give a rough estimate of events."

"Anyway", the Doctor said, trying to break us up. "How far would you like, Rose?"

"100 years", she answered, giving me daggers.

The Doctor started up the Tardis again, as I said "One day, you need to give lessons on how to fly her. I know you had that whole disagreement thing with the manual, but I still want experience from you."

"I'll think about it", he replied as we stopped. "There we go, Rose. Step outside those doors, and it's the 22nd century."

"You're kidding", she spoke, with a smile on her face.

"Tell you what, though. That's a bit boring. Do you want to go further?"

"Sure", both Rose and myself said together.

The Doctor flew the Tardis again, and said happily "10 thousand years in the future. Step out those doors and it's the year 12005. The New Roman Empire."

"You think you're so impressive," Rose said cheekily.

I _am_ so impressive" the Doctor replied, offended.

"You wish", came the disbelieving response.

"Alright" I spoke at last. " You asked for it. I know exactly the place we can go to and make you not sceptical at all. Doctor?"

He looked at me and instantly read my mind.

"Hold on tight", he said to Rose as we kept travelling through the Time Vortex to our destination.

We were brought to a stop by the "ding" of the Doctor hitting a bell on the console.

"Where are we?" Rose asked with curiosity.

The only response from both of us was our arms extended, hands showing her the door.

"What's out there?" came her more anxious question.

"Take a look and see" I said.

So she did, with the doors opening and closing behind her.

As soon as she did, I said to the Doctor "You go on and help her. I need to take care of a few things in my room.. I'll only be a minute or 2."

"Suits me just fine. Don't take too long."

"I'll try" I replied, as he walked out of the Tardis doors.

The second the door closed behind him, I spoke out loud to the Tardis.

"Ok, I know I'm asking a lot from you, but I would like a few things in my room, if you can get them there."

No response, and then another tingle in my head from her talking to me.

" _Very well. What is it you want?"_

"Workbenches. One for armour, and one for weapons. I want to have a steady supply of resources ready to make anything in case of danger" I said. "Knowing the Doctor, he needs all the backup he can get, even if he does end things peacefully rarely."

" _I shall consider it. However, this does not mean that I trust you to cause any disturbances while doing so."_

I acknowledged it. "Thank you, and I won't ask anything else, aside from moving my room somewhat closer to the console. I don't want the Doctor to hear what I'm doing, but at the same time, I don't want to be really far away from when something urgent happens."

" _Very well. If that is all, then we are done speaking for now."_

"Again, thank you", I said, backing towards the doors. "I appreciate it."

" _You are welcome"_ came the somewhat uplifting response.

Opening the door and then closing it behind me, I noticed the Doctor and Rose looking out at what little of Earth was left, and asked "So. What have I missed?"

"The end of the world, apparently", Rose glumly replied.

"Still, it's ok, though" The Doctor replied. "Because this isn't just any "end of the world" viewing. This is something else."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"He means that we're probably not the only ones here" I replied. "Come on. Let's see who else is on the guest list."

Walking through the door that the Doctor had probably opened for us, we mad our way down a corridor, while a voice on the speakers said "Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion."

" _Religion?"_ I thought, smirking. _"Well, that'll certainly please the atheists."_

"When it says "guests", does that mean people?" Rose wondered, asking the Doctor.

"Depends what you mean by people" he replied.

"I mean people. What do you mean?"

"Aliens" I answered. "It's not just limited to one planet."

"So, what are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?"

"Not really a spaceship" the Doctor replied. "More like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn."

"What for?" came Rose's questioning.

"Fun." I replied, as we walked through the doors.

"When I say the great and the good, I mean the rich", the Doctor told us.

"Great. So all the visitors here are rich and seeing the most immersive 3D experience ever encountered up close" I said. "Nothing wrong with that."

Meanwhile Rose had thought about something. "Hold on. They did this on _Newsround Extra,_ the sun expanding, but that takes hundreds of years."

"Millions", the Doctor put simply. "But the planet's now the property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?", he pointed at the sun. "Gravity satellites, holding back the sun."

"How many of them are there?" I asked. "There's got to be millions, if not billions of them keeping it in place."

"You're right. 45 billion of them, all holding it ready for the right moment."

"It still looks the same" Rose said, pointing it out. "I thought the continents shifted and things."

They did, but the National Trust shifted them back! That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over."

"So, how long has it got left?" both Rose and myself asked.

"About half an hour. Then the planet gets roasted."

"Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?"

"Why would he?" I asked. "I mean, I've seen my Earth taken over and I barely survived. I think it's poetic to see a version where everyone who still lived on it is now spread out across the stars, without looking back at it."

"I'm sorry" Rose replied. "I didn't know."

"It's not your fault" I comforted her. "The only thing I can do is hope that there is a future like this, where people still live good lives, even after hardship."

"Besides" the Doctor said, trying to cheer us up "Time is up for this Earth. It's empty. All the people are gone. All left."

"Just us 2, then." Rose spoke sadly.

The silence was broken a few seconds later, when a new voice asked "Who the hell are you?"

"That's nice. Thanks" the Doctor answered him as we turned around to see a blue steward approaching us.

"But how did you get in?" he asked the Doctor. "This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They're on their way any second..."

Quick as a flash, the Doctor's hand whipped into his pocket and pulled out the psychic paper.

"No, no. That's me. I'm a guest. Look, I've got an invitation." he spoke rapidly.

"Look, there you see? It's fine. You see? The Doctor plus two. I'm the Doctor, and these are Rose Tyler and Marty Smith. They're my plus two. Is that alright?"

"Well, obviously" came the steward's simple reply. "Apologies, etcetera. Now, then. If you're on board, we'll start. Enjoy."

He then made his way to a podium in the corner of the room, so he wasn't in the way.

Explaining to Rose, the Doctor whispered "The paper's slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time."

"He's blue" came Rose's obvious reply.

"Yeah." I answered her.

"Alright", she said, going with it.

Then the party started, with the steward reading out the guest names.

"In attendance, we have the Doctor and his guests, Rose Tyler and Marty Smith. Thank you. All staff to their positions."

He then clapped, and I nearly went "Aww" as about 20 small blue crew members walked away through the doors. I was trying not to laugh and think how much they reminded me of Smurfs.

"And now, may I now introduce the next honoured guest representing the Forest of Cheem, we have trees. Namely Jabe, Lute and Coffa."

The doors then opened, and the 3 trees walked forward, pleased to be here.

The steward continued, saying "There will be an exchanging of gifts, representing peace."

I smiled as the trees approached us, all the while the guests kept on coming.

Next was the Moxx of Balhoon, who was a small blue alien atop a moving platform.

Following him were the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

"Yeah. They don't look suspicious", I whispered to the Doctor while they stepped through the door.

"Shh" he told me.

The Hop Pyleen brothers came next, then Cal "Sparkplug", followed by Mr and Mrs Pakoo, who were a bird species, then the Ambassadors from the city of Blinding Light.

"The gift of peace" Jabe said, as one of her friends brought us a holder with potted plants on it. "I bring you a cutting of my grandfather."

"Thank you," I said as I took it from them, trying not to make a Groot joke.

Patting himself down, the Doctor said "Yes, gifts." Clearing his throat, he replied "In return, I give you air from my lungs", and breathed out onto Jabe's face.

"My. How.. intimate" she replied, softly.

"There's more where that came from", he flirted.

"I bet there is" came her response, as Rose looked on in awe.

Then, the guest that I wanted to talk to arrived and I smiled when the doors opened.

"Please welcome the main sponsor for the event, the Face of Boe."

"What's the matter?" The Doctor asked as he saw me nearly tear up.

"I've just seen an old friend" I replied, quietly. "I'm gonna say hello to them."

Making my way over to where he would be, I smiled as I got nearer.

"Hello, Captain." I said as we got face to literal face.

" _Hello, Marty. It's been a long time since we last saw each other."_

"I know. I blame him" I replied, pointing at the Doctor. "Here today, gone yesterday."

Jack chuckled.

"There's so much I want to ask you about" I said, with sadness in my voice "But there's so little time."

" _Then we'd better get started. But not through speech."_

"You mean…?" I asked, gesturing to my head.

" _Yes. Close your eyes and focus on me. You've done it before."_

"Ok" I said, as we made our telepathic connection.

" _Wow. Never thought I'd be back here again."_

" _Remember to focus, otherwise the connection is lost."_

" _I am. I'm just so happy to see you again."_

" _Take your time. No-one can disturb us here, not unless we are willing to break the connection."_

" _Alright. First question. How did you end up this way?"_

" _When you get as old as I am, you make a lot of enemies, Marty. And I mean a lot of them. Give someone enough time and patience, and soon they can find ways to cripple the Devil so that he never recovers. That's what happened to me. I got so old that I just made the wrong people mad and ended up like this."_

" _I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

" _Now for one of my own. How much have you thought about will happen with your Earth? More specifically, the one you left behind."_

" _Honestly, I don't know. I want to save it, but I know that time's not in a straight line, so I'm afraid, Jack. Of what will happen if I do decide to interfere. Who's to say the one I try to stop will be the very one I create? Even if I do succeed, another one will take its place."_

" _I apologise, Marty. I'm sorry."_

" _Don't be. I signed up for this, and now it's up to me to get a way out of it."_

" _Is there anything else you wish to know?"_

" _Yes, actually. How did you get the money to sponsor this? This must have cost you a fortune."_

" _I may have met the wrong people before now, but I also met good people who helped to set me up more legitimately, and that led me to hosting a front row seat at the planet all 4 of us called home."_

" _4?"_

" _Me, you, Rose and the Doctor. Or had you forgot?"_

" _No. I'm just a bit stupid."_

" _Ok, then. You want to say anything else before we end this connection?"_

" _Yes. Watch out for Cassandra. She's a right bitch. I mean, if she's the last human, I'm Bruce Wayne."_

" _I'm more worried about Rose than anyone else. Knowing her, she's bound to end up in the worst way."_

" _And I'm not?"_

" _I taught you weapons training and self defense, as well as my own specialities. Trust me. If anyone needs help right now, it's her."_

" _Don't worry. I'll help her as much as I can. Until next time, Jack."_

" _Until then, Marty."_

We then broke the connection, and I looked around, and realised that the guests were still bringing gifts as if nothing had changed.

That was the beauty of Jack's mental projection. We could have our own conversations and he would give everyone else the impression that I was invisible, without costing us much time.

Unfortunately, while I was brought out of my connection with him, I then realised that Norma Desmond herself*, Cassandra, had joined the guests.

"Behold. I bring gifts" were the first words giving me the rude awakening that I really despised.

"Oh shit. Here we go" I muttered.

"From Earth, the last great ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and breathed fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband?"

Most of everyone laughed except for me and a few others who didn't like the joke.

We then saw two of the crew then bringing in a jukebox as Cassandra said "I bring music as well. According to the records, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers. Play on!"

I glanced over at Rose and we shared an equal disapproving look with one another as if to say "She is out of her goddamned mind."

Still, I couldn't complain. Tainted Love was the first track that was played. "I'll give you that one, Cassandra" I said to myself. "Now, let's see what else is on the playlist."

I walked over to the jukebox and browsed the rest of her collection. Thankfully, she had already moved away by this point and didn't hear what I murmured next.

"Alright. Toxic, yep. Called that one. Livin' La Vida Loca. Ok, I can buy that being one of hers. Pretty Woman? _Definitely_ not. Rich Girl and Killer Queen. _Wow_. Talk about subtle."

Even though I loved all the songs on there, including Toxic, I hated the fact that these were all vain songs for Cassandra's sake. Bending down in front of it to make people think I was tying my shoes, I muttered "Time to make a few entries of my own."

Lifting a small device of my own creation - about the size of a 20p - out of my pocket, I slipped it into the machine and placed it in among the speakers. That way I could give Cassandra just what she needed.

"There. That should do it. Now to wait until this one ends, and then the fun can begin."

While I had been involved with that, I had neglected to see Rose run out of the room, and the Doctor going after her.

Couldn't say I didn't feel sorry for Rose. She's just met killer shop window dummies and now is seeing a collection of alien species watching the biggest explosion that they've probably ever seen. Plus, it's the literal end of the world.

I looked back at Jack, hoping he was still listening to my thoughts.

" _The music's about to get a little bit crazier"_ I thought to him. _"Just try to hold in the laughs."_

" _I'll try. Good luck."_

"I will, Jack. I will." I whispered to myself.

Seeing where the Doctor had got to, I followed him out, as the steward's voice spoke "Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery 15 please report to the steward's office immediately."

"Hope he's not giving you a parking ticket" I spoke as I caught up with him.

"No. Probably just wants it moved for others' viewing."

The crew around here were certainly thorough, because they moved the Tardis to another place like Oompa Loompas, while the Doctor told them "Oi. Be careful with that. Park it properly. No scratches."

Then one of them came over to him and handed out a ticket.

We turned it over and it said "Have a nice day"

"Wow. He really _did_ give you a ticket. That's not common for you, I take it?"

"No it is not", the Doctor replied, putting it away in his pocket. "Come on. We'd better find Rose. There's no telling where she could be."

"If I were her, I'd be in one of the galleries like the one we arrived in" I said. "Trouble is, there may not be so few of them."

"No. Knowing Rose, she'd be in one that's close to us. Somewhere like..." The Doctor then pulled out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it a panel near us. "Here. Rose, are you in there?" He called out through the doors.

No answer came, but he opened the doors and we saw her.

"Aye, aye" he said to her, as he sat down on an opposite seat while I leaned up against the doors.

Right now I could still hear the music that was playing fade from the jukebox as it ended. It was time for my additions.

Smiling, I pulled out my iPod and went to my first choice. _"_ _Alright, ladies and gentlemen, t_ _his_ _first_ _request_ _goes out to a very special person_ _named Jack Harkness_ _"_ I thought, like a radio presenter. _"Someone who appreciates_ _just how women do th_ _e craziest_ _things_ _in their lives_ _. From Mr. Cab Calloway, it's Minnie the Moocher!"_

Hitting play, I listened with glee as the intro started up and I could hear the faint sounds of confusion, while also feeling Jack in my head.

" _Good choice to start off with"_ he laughed.

" _Just wait until you hear the next ones"_ I replied.

Meanwhile the Doctor asked Rose "What did you think, then?"

"Great, yeah, fine" she replied. "Once you get past the slightly psychic paper."

The Doctor laughed until she said "They're just so _alien_. The aliens are just so alien. You look at them, and they're so alien."

"Good thing I didn't take you to the deep south" he said, sarcastically.

I guess Rose really wanted to know about the Doctor's history, so she asked both of us "Where is he from?"

That brought me out of my happy trance, but the Doctor answered her first with "All over the place."

"They all speak English."

"No, that's the Tardis translating it so you hear English" I responded. "It translates it telepathically in your brain so you don't hear a garbled mess every time."

"It's in my brain?" she asked with horror.

"In a good way" I said.

"What do you mean good way? It's doing it without my permission, and you didn't even ask when it got inside my head." Rose was close to fuming at this rate.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think" the Doctor answered her.

"No, of course you didn't. You were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the deep south. Who are you, then Doctor? What sort of alien are you?"

I kept my mouth shut at this point. I wanted to be silent throughout.

"I'm just a Doctor."

"From what planet?"

He laughed as he said "Well, it's not as if you'd know where it is."

" _You'd be surprised. Gallifrey may be saved altogether"_ I thought sadly, knowing about his 3 selves' efforts to help it.

Then the two of them got even more angry with each other.

"Where are you from?"

"What does it matter?"

"Tell me who you are."

" _This_ is who I am! Right here, right now. Alright? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"

"Yeah, and I'm here too because you two brought me here! So just tell me!"

The Doctor had now become completely silent as he got off his seat and walked down in front of the window.

I still said nothing as Rose looked on in half anger, half nervousness.

The awkward silence was then broken by Rose walking down beside him and speaking.

"Alright. As my mate Shireen says, "Don't argue with the designated driver." Can't exactly call for a taxi" she said, pulling her phone out from her jacket.

"There's no signal" she continued, waving it about in front of her. "We're out of range. Just a bit."

"Tell you what" the Doctor said, taking it out of her hands. "With a bit of jiggery-pokery..."

"Is that a technical term, "jiggery-pokery"?" Rose asked as he took out the cover and then replaced the battery.

"Yeah. I came first in jiggery-pokery. What about you?"

"No, I failed hullabaloo" she replied, smiling.

A few beeps later, and the Doctor said "There you go", handing it back to her and crossing his arms.

I signalled to him that I was leaving the room and going back the party. "Don't want to make this worse" I mouthed.

"Ok. See you back in there" he replied.

I had almost reached the hall when I felt Platform One shudder and the steward said something about gravity pockets. This time I had honestly zoned out before I recovered and got back into the hall where I happily noticed that Cab was nearly done with his singing and nobody had touched the jukebox so that there were different songs playing instead of mine.

" _Glad no-one knows how to operate it well"_ I thought. _"No-one except for me and the host."_

I waited as the Doctor and Rose came back while everyone recovered.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that" came his familiar voice as they walked in and went over to a terminal. What do you think, Jabe?" he asked her, turning around as I approached them.

"Those engines have to be loud, now" I replied. "Must be 30 Hertz they've gone up by. What? I've done a bit of engineering" I said, at Rose's confused face.

"Yeah. Seems a bit dodgy, don't you think?"

"It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Where's the engine room?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know" Jabe replied. "But the maintenance duct is just behind our guests' suite. I could show you if you like."

"And your wife", she said, referring to Rose.

"No, no, no, no, no. She's just a friend" I quickly said, butting in before shit kicked off. "All 3 of us are just friends. Nothing else is going on."

Grateful for the save, Rose said "Alright. You 3 go off and explore. I'm gonna catch up with the family. Quick word with Michael Jackson", pointing to Cassandra.

"Don't start a fight", the Doctor told her.

We turned to leave as she went over to Cassandra, but not before I held onto her arm for a minute.

"Rose, he's not kidding. Try not to make this personal with her" I whispered to her. "She may be a piece of skin, but she's probably got backup. Just be careful when you're talking and watch out for trouble."

"I'll be fine" she replied, going over to Cassandra.

" _Now for request number 2, which is for a special lady named Rose Tyler"_ I thought in the same voice as before while I selected the next track. _"Here's a duo from the 1980s who sound like a breakfast cereal. Ironic, really, because this song will chew you up. Yes, all the way from the US of A, we have Hall and Oates with Maneater!"_

Hitting play again, I smiled as the bass began the song, before making my way to the both of them.

"This looks cosy" I said as I joined them in the ducts.

At the moment, their conversation turned to who was in control of the platform and Jabe saying that nothing could go wrong.

"Unsinkable?" The Doctor asked.

"If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"Tell that to everyone aboard the Titanic" I replied. " _They_ said it was unsinkable, and look what happened."

The Doctor concurred, saying "I was there and ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold."

Stopping, he asked "So what you're saying is that if we get in trouble, there's no-one to help us out?"

"Yes" she stated.

"Fantastic!"

"I don't understand. In what way is it fantastic?"

"Yeah. I'm with Jabe. How exactly is this fantastic?" I asked. "I mean, you're saying that if this goes up in smoke, the Corporation behind this will be more concerned about property loss than lives."

"That's why we need to do this as best as we can" the Doctor said.

Turning back to Jabe he asked "So, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?"

"Respect for the Earth."

"Come on" he said, disbelievingly. "Everyone on this platform is worth zillions."

"Well, perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions."

"In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere! And there's always money in land."

"All the same", she replied, kindly. "We respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I am another."

"Really?" I asked with awe. "That's amazing."

"Yes, it is. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest."

"Excuse me" the Doctor said, as we approached a terminal and he pulled out the sonic screwdriver.

"And what of your ancestry?" Jabe asked us.

"I'm human. Same as Rose" I replied. "In regards to when we're from, I believe the phrasing is too accurate to be false. "So near yet so far." That's the best way I can describe it."

The Doctor kept quiet as he worked on the terminal.

"I'm sure you have many stories to tell" she said to him. "Perhaps a man who only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left.?"

Wanting to get a reaction out of him, Jabe kept talking, saying "I scanned you earlier. The metal machine ad trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I couldn't believe it. But it _was_ right. I know where you're from!"

Even though I was looking over Jabe's shoulder, I still saw the sadness in the Doctor's face as she reminded him of who he was and what he left behind.

"Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist! I just want to say… how sorry I am" she said, as I heard her put her hand on the Doctor's arm.

No words were spoken by him as her turned his head towards her, and with his free hand, grabbed hers in a comforting manner like acceptance.

We then heard the sonic buzz once more before a door was opened and we walked through it, to be confronted with giant spinning fans separating a small walkway.

Looking all around, the Doctor asked "Is it just me, or is it a bit nippy?"

Impressed, he continued saying "Fair does, though. That's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old-fashioned. Bet they call it retro."

Sonicing a nearby panel, all three of us jumped back as a small metal spider scuttled away from us and towards the wall.

As I tried to catch it, it scurried up the wall and the Doctor asked "What the hell is that?"

"Is it part of the "retro"?" Jabe asked.

"I don't think so. Hold on" he said, trying to find the proper setting on the sonic.

"There has to be something" I said.

Suddenly, I whipped my head to the side as Jabe let loose with one of her vines and grabbed the spider with it.

Catching the spider as it fell, I picked it up while the Doctor said "Nice liana."

"Thank you. I'm not supposed to show them in public", she replied, blushing.

"We won't tell anyone. I promise" I said, as I passed him the spider.

Looking at it carefully, the Doctor asked "Now, who's been bringing their pets on board?"

"What does it do?" Jabe asked, also curious.

"Sabotage, by the looks of it" I said. "The only thing is, how many more of them are there? I mean, there must have been some way they got on. Unless..." I paused, thinking. "Oh no. We need to get out of here, now and back to the main deck."

"He's right. The temperature's about to rocket. Come on."

This time, we ran out through the ducts, and back towards the entrance.

As we did so, I could hear Britney's not so subtle lyrics coming through the walls as she started singing.

The second we came out of the ducts, the stench of smoke filled the air.

" _What the hell?"_ we all thought, running towards it.

"Oh, shit" I said, as we saw the crew in front of what looked like the steward's office, trying to get it open.

"Everyone hold on, and get back!" The Doctor yelled as he ran over to the panel and used the sonic on it.

"Sunfilter rising" the computer said.

"Is the steward in there?" Jabe asked with horror.

"What's left of him" I said, simply.

"Hold on. There's another sunfilter programmed to descend" the Doctor said as he kept working with the controls.

"Where?" I asked.

"Follow me!" he shouted, knowing where it was.

So, we ran through the halls of the ship until we found it via banging on the door and a familiar voice talking through it.

As we did, the Doctor pulled the sonic out and asked "Anyone in there?"

"Someone let me out!" Rose shouted from behind it.

"Oh, well it would be you" he muttered.

" _There has to be a crowbar or something here"_ I thought, desperately, looking around for one. _"Something for repairs."_ Then I realised that because this Corporation thought they were so clever, they didn't think of stocking this place in case this thing _did_ happen.

Rose kept yelling as the Doctor said "Hold on, give us two ticks."

The voice kept saying "Sunfilter descending" until the sonic did it's job for a bit.

"Sunfilter rising" It said about 3 times.

Then it went back to normal.

"Just what I need. The computer's getting clever" the Doctor irritatedly said.

"Well, stop mucking about!" Rose pleaded.

"We're not mucking about. The computer's fighting back" I shouted. "It's trying to obey its original order."

"The lock's melted!" yelled Rose, this time from further away.

Finally, the Doctor managed to overwrite the computer by pointing the sonic in the heart of the control panel and blasting it.

Both of us then tried to open the door, which failed.

"We can't open the door!" the Doctor called out. "It's jammed. Just stay there and don't move!"

"Where am I gonna go? Ipswich?" she asked.

"Rose, I promise, we'll get you out of here" I told her before leaving.

I turned back to the Doctor. "Main deck, now" I said simply.

He looked back at me and agreed, as we now ran back there.

We arrived back in there, to the tune of everyone questioning about how the spiders got on board.

The Doctor took the spider out of Jabe's hand as the Moxx said "Summon the steward."

"The steward's dead" I replied. "Killed by one of these descending his sunfilter."

As the gasps from everyone were made clear, the Moxx then asked "Who killed him?"

Eager to shift the blame, Cassandra directed it at Jack. "This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us" she said as he shook his head in clear disgust. "Talk to the face. Talk to the face."

"Easy way of finding out" the Doctor replied. "Someone brought their little pet on board. Let's send him home to master."

He placed it down on the floor, and we watched as it scuttled around the place.

First it went to Cassandra, but ran away quickly and over to the grim reaper's fan club where it stopped.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse" the bitch herself said.

"That's all rather well, and kind of obvious" the Doctor told her, making his way towards them. "But if you stop and think about it..."

Then one of them tried to swat him with their "hands", but he grabbed it, pulled it out from its socket and then held it in his hand.

"A repeated meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea."

He yanked one of the cables out from the hand and they all fell to the floor.

Continuing, he said "Remote control droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo", nudging the spider with his foot. "Go home."

And it did so, all the way back to Cassandra.

"I would say it's surprising that it turned out to be you" I said, "But given your theatrics now, it's not hard to see why."

"I bet you two were the school swots and never got kissed" she replied. "At arms" she said to her surgeons.

"What are you gonna do?" The Doctor asked, moving his arms in false panic. "Moisturise us?"

"With acid" she bluntly put.

"Oh you're too late anyway. My spider have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax-free, past every code-wall. I'm not just a pretty face" she continued.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it. How stupid is that?" The Doctor pointed out.

"I'd hope to manufacture a hostage situation" she responded. "With myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

"5 billion years later, and it's still all about the money" I said. "What kind of soulless person are you?"

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune."

"I am the last human, Doctor. Not those little children of yours" referring to both me and Rose.

"Arrest her! The infidel!" the Moxx squeaked.

"Oh, shut it, pixie" she growled at him. "I've still got my final option."

"Earth death in 3 minutes" came the station's voice.

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I've got shares in all your rival companies. And they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed to destroy the safety systems."

"You bitch" I said. "Always thinking about yourself and never anyone else. No wonder you think you're the last human being. No-one else would want to be with you for that time without feeling god-awful."

"You've got such a mouth on you" she told me with sadistic happiness. "Pity it's going to pay for it. How did that old Earth song go? "Burn, baby. Burn."."

"Then you'll burn with us" Jabe angrily replied.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is forbidden, but… I'm such a naughty thing."

And with that, she said "Spiders, activate", which then preceded to blow up the ship from the inside out.

"Forcefields gone, and with the planet about to explode… At least it'll be quick. Just like my 5th husband. Bye, by, my darlings" she said, as she teleported out. "Bye, bye."

As the voice called out "Heat levels rising" I selected the last song that I wanted to play.

" _Ladies and gentlemen, this last song is one that I'm personally requesting"_ I thought, hurriedly. _"In a time like this, we need a hero. And who else to bring us one than Bonnie Tyler? With that, this is your host signing off with "Holding Out for a Hero!"_

As I hit play for the last time today and the music started, the Moxx said "Reset the computer!"

"Only the steward would know how" Jabe replied.

"No. We can do it by hand. There has to be a system restore switch. Marty, Jabe. With me. Come on" the Doctor said.

So, we ran for our lives as Bonnie continued to sing through the ship.

"Heat levels critical" the ship spoke.

We arrived, and the Doctor spotted the problem.

"Oh, and guess where the switch is" he said, pointing to where it was, at the end of the row of fans.

As he pulled the switch to shut down the fans, we smiled… then became scared as they sped back up when the Doctor left the switch.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding" I said, as we realised what had to happen.

Thinking quickly, I stripped both my jacket and t-shirt off and used them like a makeshift pair of oven gloves over my hands.

"Jabe, you and I will need to swap over in-between fans" I said. "It'll mean that we won't burn as easily."

"You can't. The heat's gonna vent through this place and she's made of wood" the Doctor said.

"Do you have a better idea?" I asked him. "If not, this is our only plan!"

Agreeing with it, Jabe said "Stop wasting time, Time Lord", and took the first fan.

"We need to be quick" I said. "Ready? Go!"

The Doctor then took off quickly as he timed the first one and leapt through it.

I immediately took over and placed my jacket and t-shirt over the handle to insulate the heat somewhat.

"Come on!" I yelled, as the heat started to climb.

The Doctor then got through the second fan, but that was when Jabe rushed in.

Noticing that I was struggling, and I could already feel blisters form on my skin she took over and started to ignite.

Pushing me away, Jabe burnt screaming right in front of me and with tears in my eyes, I said "I'm sorry", as she was reduced to ash.

Knowing the Doctor was nearly there, I kept trying anyway, even as the clothes continued to burn.

"COME ON!" I yelled out, gritting my teeth as the pain kept coming.

It seemed that even my yelling was futile, as the last fan kept spinning while I jumped back in immense frustration to the sound of "FUCK!", due to what were now slowly inflamed hands.

As the computer counted down the last few numbers, I shouted out "It's up to you, now, Doctor!" before collapsing on the balcony in the foetal position, hands now more blisters than skin.

Just when the computer counted down to 3, the Doctor called out "raise shields!" and activated the power.

The computer said 1, and then the Earth exploded, with the shields online, just in the nick of time.

He walked back to where I was, took his jacket off and put it around my hands, helped me up, and then we looked at what remained of Jabe.

"She fought until the end" I said, trying not to cry again, while the Doctor said nothing.

Hobbling back to the main hall, we saw Rose who had recovered and got out from her room.

Gesturing to him that I wanted to be with her for a bit, the Doctor walked me to Rose and then left us alone while he made his way to Lute and Coffa to give his condolences.

No-one said anything until Rose asked us "Are you all right?"

"Peachy" I winced, showing her my hands.

"I'm more than all right. I'm full of ideas. I'm bristling with them" the Doctor said, trying to control his anger.

"Idea number one. Teleportation through 5000 degrees needs some kind of feed" he said, walking around Cassandra's "gifts". "Idea number two. This feed must be hidden nearby."

Smashing the egg to uncover a teleport pod, the Doctor continued. "Idea number three. If you're as clever as I am, then a teleportation field can be reversed."

Twisting the pod at the top, we were treated to a whining, followed by an all-too familiar voice. "Oh, you should have seen their stupid little faces… Oh."

"Sorry to gatecrash _your_ party" I said in pain.

"The last human" the Doctor simply said.

"So, you passed my little test. Bravo! This makes you eligible to join the...Human Club."

Not having any of it, he angrily replied "People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them."

"It depends on your definition of people" she said. "And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me sing and dance and cry… and flutter."

"And creak?" The Doctor asked in amusement.

"And what?" she asked, not believing him.

"Creak. You're creaking" he pointed out.

"What?" she asked, before realising. "Oh, I'm drying out. Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturise me. Moisturise me. Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys. It's too hot!"

"You raised the temperature" the Doctor said.

"Have pity" she croaked. "Moisturise me!"

"Help her, Doctor" Rose said to him.

"We _are_ " I bluntly stated.

"Everything has its time, and everything dies" the Doctor continued my thoughts for me.

"I'm too… young..." came Cassandra's last words before she exploded outwards.

As I got up with Rose's help, we walked back to the Tardis, slowly but surely.

"Thanks" I said, as she opened the door for me.

"You're welcome" she replied. Looking at my chest, she said "Never thought I'd see someone this shirtless for a while."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it" I said, laughing to help with the pain and knowing what she was getting at. "I may not be someone like James Bond, but I try to keep in shape as much as I can, so that this shit helps to minimise the damage."

"Will you be alright?"

"I hope so. I just need an infirmary here. I'll be fine on my own."

Leaving me, she closed the door as I said "Tell him that I'm trying to find something to help me."

"Will do. See ya."

"See you soon" I replied.

Moving slowly through the Tardis entrance, I asked "Ok. I'm in a lot of pain from blisters, and I need to help numb them down. Could you please give me an ice bath, some wet towels and a lot of bandages?"

" _Do I look like your hotel maid?"_

"No, you look like a friend, who can do another friend a favour" I told her.

" _Fine. All of what you have requested is waiting for you in the bathroom next to your room. But know this. For each request you ask for, I expect to get one in return."_

"Suits me just fine" I said, as I made my way there.

Taking my hands out of the Doctor's jacket, I slowly placed them down on one of the towels.

"Fuck.." I hissed, trying to roll it over one of them, before using it on another one.

It took about 10 minutes to actually get into the bath with the towels around my hands and trying to get my jeans off.

As my hands were covered, I just lay in the bath, and let myself recover for a while, until nearly all the ice had gone.

During this time, the Tardis had taken off, probably because the Doctor wanted to show Rose just how much humanity was very much alive despite all of us missing its end.

I noticed they had come back when I heard footsteps, and the Doctor's voice coming from behind the bathroom door.

"Marty, are you alright in there?" he asked.

"Just about" I managed to say. "Still don't know what the damage is, but I'm recovering."

"Can I come in and see?" he continued.

"Sure. The door's not locked. I'm not _all_ undone, by the way. Just underwear."

"Alright. I promise not to look."

He walked in slowly, noticing that I was still trying to keep a straight face.

Sitting down beside me, the Doctor carefully unwrapped one of the towels from my hands and I gasped and saw how much damage had been done to just one of them.

My whole left hand, nearly right down to the last few layers of skin, was almost gone. Buried, under the amount of burn blisters that covered it. It was one bit of bubble wrap that I _really_ didn't want to touch.

The combination of both the bath and the towel had managed to keep it stable for now, but I needed to get the bandages on them.

I told the Doctor exactly this, and he asked "Where are they?"

"Behind you, on the shelf" I said.

"Careful. I need you to hold your hand out and keep it still until I've got them tightly around it."

So, I did what the Doctor ordered, and I was now one hand less bandaged.

He did the same for the other hand, and I now looked like a rejected mummy.

"You need help getting out?"

"Yes, please."

He got me another towel to put around my body and I walked out of the bathroom and went back to my bedroom.

As he helped me sit down, the Doctor said "I never got the chance to tell you earlier, but thank you. I know you did your best to help all of us, including Jabe..." he trailed off sadly.

"What was I supposed to do? Stand around and be helpless?" I asked, knowing what he meant. Then I paused, saying "I know. I'm sorry about her too, and you're welcome. But, I believe that here is a yin and yang when it comes to death. For every one that's not deserved, there's another one just around the corner that always is."

"Where did you get that idea from?"

"Since I started on this journey, I guess. I saw so many people wrongly die, that it almost felt like a blessing that the right people got what they deserved."

"And how long has that happened? The right people getting their comeuppance?"

"Too many to count, even while I'm only 2 places in with you."

I paused before asking "You haven't got anything to help me, have you? Something that can help with skin cell regeneration."

"You know what?", the Doctor said, thinking for a second. "Actually, I do. Hold on a second. I'll be right back."

I heard the faint sound of clanging before he came back with a metal canister and opened it, releasing tiny creatures which flew around my hands before the Doctor opened the bandages up a little and they poured into them, making my hands glow a little.

"Are those…?" I asked.

"Nanogenes. They'll help to get back the skin that you're missing. The burns will take a bit longer to do, so it's better that you rest and let them do their job. I'll come and see you when you're feeling a bit better. Take care."

"I will. Thanks, Doctor."

And with that, I lay back onto my bed and let them heal my hands, while I drifted off to sleep, ready for the next, hopefully less intense adventure...

 **AN 2**

 **Thanks again for reading. Don't forget to follow, review and favourite for more.**

 **If you got the reference with the title, good knowledge.**

 ***I put this here because a lot of people who don't know who Norma Desmond is will be asking why I'm referencing her. For those of you who don't know, she's the main character from Sunset Boulevard, who is an actress that goes off the deep end when her career as a silent movie actress is over and refuses to come to terms with it. It goes so far that at the end of the film, gives the iconic line from it, saying "Alright, Mr Demille. I'm ready for my close-up", making her lose touch with reality completely.**

 **Anyway, with all that said, if you do enjoy this, please be sure to stick around for more adventures in the future. Or is it the past?**

 **Speaking of which, next chapter calls for ghosts at Christmas. Not 3, mind you, but ghosts all the same. And something to do with a writer's involvement... To find out more, stay tuned and take care!**


	6. A Spaceman Came Travelling

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 6- A Spaceman Came Travelling**

 **A/N Welcome back to the next chapter of this ongoing saga! In the last chapter, the end of the world seemed so near, yet so far. That was, until the intervention of our heroes, which didn't come without repercussions.**

 **In this one, there are spectres galore, and events that may or not be connected to each other. All I can say is, read on!**

Waking up much later, I found that my hands were indeed healed by the nanogenes.

"Son of a bitch", I murmured happily, as I slowly opened and closed them, seeing if there was any pain.

Taking the bandages off them, I was amazed at how they had managed to do an impressive job in so little time.

I then realised that I had pretty much slept in only a towel and underwear, which were a double indicator that I probably had a cold brewing.

Getting up, I looked for tissues, as well as new clothes to put on. Trying to remember when we were going next, I looked for anything Victorian era in my wardrobe.

Finally, I found a tweed suit and trousers, with a scarf and shoes to match. No top hat, though. Knowing the weather, it would probably blow away and never be seen again.

Putting them on quickly, I walked close to the central console, where the Doctor was trying to teach Rose how to fly the Tardis.

"Hold that one down!" he yelled, as the Tardis moved again.

"I _am!_ ", Rose replied.

"Well, hold them both down!"

"It's not gonna work!" she yelled.

"Look, I promised you a time machine, and that's what you're getting!" he shouted. "Now, you've seen the future. Let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?"

"What happened in 1860?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Let's find out."

Holding on for dear life, I watched and felt the Tardis move with great speed towards her new place in time.

As we arrived, I heard both of them on the floor laughing their heads off as they tried to get up.

Making my way towards them, attempting to shrug off the dizziness of the Tardis, I interrupted with "Hope I'm not spoiling the fun."

"Well, look at you" the Doctor said, noticing my getup. "Clothes fit you, then?"

"More or less", I replied. "Thanks for the nanogenes. They did the job in no time at all."

"You're welcome. But, how did you know where we were going?"

"Lucky guess?" I asked. "That, or you're just that loud in here."

Rose looked confused, and then asked "What are nanogenes, and how did you get those clothes?"

"Nanogenes are little microscopic creatures that home in on any DNA that's damaged, and makes them match the healthy type of their target", the Doctor answered her. "And as for the wardrobe, there's one in the Tardis for any occasion."

"Alright", Rose said, satisfied. "So when are we?"

"I did it. Give the man a medal" the Doctor said, smiling. "Earth. Naples. December 24th, 1860."

"Christmas Eve?" I asked. "That's a bit of a weird timing, don't you think?"

"Not really" he replied. "I mean, would you rather have it be on a hot summer day, or one where it just feels magical?"

"Fair point" I answered.

Rose, meanwhile was lost in thought. "But it's Christmas. Think about it, though. Christmas, 1860 happens once, just once, and then it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again. Except for you" she said, looking at the Doctor. "You can go back and see days that are dead and gone. A hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still."

"Not a bad life" he told her.

"Better with 3 now" she replied.

"It's like the 3 Musketeers, only with time travel" I joked.

"Alright, I'm off", Rose said, running towards the doors.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I asked her.

"Like what?"

"The proper clothes, for one thing", the Doctor continued. "You go out like that, you'll start a riot. The wardrobe's through there, First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up."

As Rose walked by us and into the wardrobe, I asked the Doctor "You do realise you could give her a bedroom like mine, so she wouldn't have to walk about 10 miles in here just to pick out clothes?"

"Yeah, but she's really new at this. Got to give her the benefit of the doubt" he replied.

Leaning down towards the underside of the console, he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and worked over a few of the inner workings.

"Anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Just keep an eye out for Rose. She may have gotten lost here. I don't blame her..."

"Oh, I don't think she's lost" I said, looking up and smiling at what I saw. "I think she's pretty much found."

Right on cue, Rose swanned in dressed in a Victorian robe that made her look like a much happier version of Susan from the Diskworld series.

"Blimey", the Doctor said, as I bent down in a bow, smiling.

"Don't start" she replied.

"Why? You look amazing" I said to her.

"All things considering" the Doctor continued.

"Considering what?" we both asked.

"That you're human."

"Thanks for the compliment" I replied.

"Aren't you gonna change?" Rose asked him.

"I have. I've changed my jumper" he said, getting up. "Come on!"

"If you say so" I told him.

As the Doctor got up, both myself and Rose walked towards the door.

"You've done this before", she pointed out. "Now, it's my turn."

"Ladies first" I told her, trying not to smile while following behind.

She opened the door and stepped outside into a not-exact winter wonderland.

"You alright?" I asked her, as Rose took baby steps through the snow on the ground.

"Y-yeah. I think so" she replied, as all 3 of us now walked out of the Tardis.

"Ready for this?" The Doctor asked her., closing and locking the Tardis door behind him.

"Here we go" I said, as we both linked our arms together with Rose's and walked forwards. "History."

Looking around at the marvels that surrounded us, I spotted a man giving away news papers and thanking him, took one to share.

Reading the date, I said to the Doctor "I think you got the flight controls a bit wrong."

"What do you mean?" Both he and Rose asked.

"Take a peek" I said, passing it to him.

"Ahh. That makes sense" he said, viewing it.

"It's not 1860. It's 1869" I said.

Too happy for now, Rose said "I don't care."

"And it's not Naples we're in" the Doctor continued.

Again, Rose replied with "I don't care."

She stopped singing that tune when both of us told her "It's Cardiff."

"...Right", Rose said, pausing to realise that.

Still walking, we were interrupted by the sound of screaming coming from a nearby building.

Throwing the paper away in joy, the Doctor said " _That's_ more like it", as we ran towards the sound.

Turned out, it was a theatre, and we arrived just as the crowd were yelling in panic, trying to get out.

"Fantastic!" the Doctor called out, as we noticed a gaseous being floating around an old woman's head before flying around the upper seating.

"Did you see where it came from?" He asked the man on stage, as Rose noticed the woman being taken away by what looked like undertakers.

"So the wag reveals himself, does he? I hope you're satisfied, sir!" he shouted at the Doctor.

"Doctor! I'll get them!" she yelled, running after them.

"Be careful!" I called out, as the Doctor carried on his questions to the man, who I thought looked familiar, but I couldn't recall who or were from.

"Did it say anything? Can it speak? I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is my friend Marty."

"A doctor? You look more like a navvy. And what such a name is Marty? I've never heard of someone called that."

"What's wrong with this jumper?" the Doctor asked, pulling on it, as I stayed silent while the proceedings were happening.

Soon, the lady floated up towards a light in the back of the theatre, and both the Doctor and myself said "It's made of gas" as it vanished into the light.

Walking out of the theatre, I noticed the undertaker's hearse as it went away.

"Rose!" I shouted, running towards it, which was futile.

Realising quickly, the Doctor called out for a horse and cart, as the man whom we met kept asking us about how we pulled this off.

"Oi! You! Follow that hearse!" he shouted at a nearby coach.

"You can't do that, sir!" the driver called out as we got in tightly.

"Really? Why not?" I asked.

"I'll tell you why not. I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is _my_ coach!" the man yelled out.

"Well, get in, then!" the Doctor called out to him as the man did so. "Come on, we're losing them!"

"Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?" the driver called out while we pulled away.

"No it is _not_ " he grumbled.

"What did he say?" the Doctor asked, as I too reached the same conclusion.

"Let me say this first. I am not without a sense of humour..."

Cutting across him, I asked "Wait. Dickens? Charles Dickens?"

"Yes" he barked back.

" _The_ Charles Dickens?" the Doctor asked him.

"Should I remove these gentlemen, sir?" the driver asked him again.

Starstruck, we both said "Charles Dickens. You're brilliant, you are!"

Going down the list, Doctor and I told him "We've read all of them, Great Expectations. Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, A Tale of Two Cities, and what was that one with the ghosts?"

"A Christmas Carol?" Dickens asked, bored.

"No, no" the Doctor said. "The one with the trains. The Signalman, that's it! Terrifying. The best short story ever written" he told all of us, as Dickens smiled in amazement.

"You really are a genius" I spoke to him.

"Do you want me to get rid of them, sir?" the driver called back

Finally calm, Charles said "No, no. I think they can stay."

"It really is an honour to meet you, Charles" we told him. "Can we call you Charles? We're such big fans."

"Big what?" He said, not understanding.

"Fans" I said, repeating.

"I don't understand. In what way are you a fan? How do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?"

"No, no" the Doctor told him. "It means fanatic, devoted to you. Mind you, that American bit in _Martin Chuzzlewit_ , what's that about? Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit."

"I thought you said you were fans.." he told us.

"What's wrong? Don't like criticism?" I asked.

Snapping out of it, the Doctor shouted "Faster!"

"Who exactly is in that hearse?" Charles asked.

"Our friend. She's only 19. It's our fault. She was under our care, and now she's in danger" I replied.

"Well, why are we wasting time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver! The chase is on!" Charles called out.

"Nice one, there, Charlie" I smirked.

"Nobody calls me Charlie" he responded.

"The ladies do" the Doctor told him, also smirking.

"How do you know that?"

"We told you" we said together. "We're your..."

"Fans..." came the grumbling reply.

Soon, we spotted the hearse and stopped.

Getting out, Charles led the way to the front door of the building.

"After you" I told him as the Doctor and I followed closely behind.

Knocking on the door, we were taken into the view of a woman who said "I'm sorry, sir. We're closed."

"Nonsense!" Charles spoke. "Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."

Trying to close the door, the woman said "He's not in, sir."

Furious, Charles threw the door open and yelled "Don't lie to me, child. Summon the master."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid the master is indisposed" she said, as a gas light grew in size behind her head.

Noticing this, the Doctor asked "Having trouble with your gas?"

Charles noticed it too, and questioned "What the Shakespeare is going on?"

Running inside, the Doctor put his ear up the wall while the woman dumbly said "You're not allowed inside the house, sir."

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's something in the walls" he said, listening. "The gas pipes. There's something living inside the gas."

Then, we heard Rose yelling "Let me out!" followed by the door being battered as she tried to get out.

"That's her, alright" I said, as we ran towards the noise.

Getting there, we kicked the door down, to find Rose with her mouth covered by one of the possessed's hands.

"Sorry, I think you'll find this is _my_ dance" the Doctor told the male one, taking her away from them.

"It's a prank. Must be. We're all under some mesmeric influence" Charles said, making some attempt to rationalise it.

"Wrong. The dead are walking" I replied, as the Doctor turned to Rose and said "Hi."

"Hi", she responded. "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens" he told her, before turning to the "other" new friends.

"I'm the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?"

Then, both male and female voices spoke out of their hosts, only saying "Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us" before they opened their mouths and flew back into a lamplight, screaming while they did so, before crashing to the floor in two giant thumps.

Recovering, we went back into the living room while the woman, who told us her name was Gwyneth, made us tea.

Rose, rightly so, was furious.

"First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man."

"I won't be spoken to like this" he protested.

Not finished, she then said "And then you sent me in a room full of zombies! And I that wasn't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So, come on, talk!"

"It's not my fault" the man, Sneed, said again. "It's this house."

Looking around at us, he said "It always had a reputation."

"What kind of reputation?" I asked.

"Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few month back, and then the stiffs..." noticing the looks on our faces, he changed his definition. "The, uh, dearly departed, started getting restless."

"Tommyrot", Charles said, indignantly.

"You witnessed it!" Sneed hissed. "Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And the queerest thing, but they hold onto scraps..."

Continuing his talking, he told us about his history with these people.

"One old man who used to be a sexton almost walked right into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir" he pointed at Charles, "just as she planned."

Still not believing this, Charles said "Morbid fancy."

Trying to talk him out of it, the Doctor said "Oh, Charles, you were there."

Full of his inner grandeur, Charles replied "I saw nothing but an illusion."

"You're really denying this, aren't you?" I asked him with disbelief. "After all you've written about, when you're encountering something bizarre for the first time, you don't want to question it. You just want to pretend it didn't exist in the first place."

"If you _are_ going to deny it, then do us a favour and shut up", the Doctor said, bluntly.

And he did.

Turning back to Gwyneth and Sneed, the Doctor asked "What about the gas?"

"That's new, sir. I've never seen anything like that" the latter responded.

"That means it's getting stronger. The rift's getting wider and sneaking something through."

"What's the rift?" Rose asked, confused.

"A weak point in time and space" I answered. "A crack, separating realities from one another. And right now, it seems this one is getting more dangerous by the sound of it."

"How do _you_ know so much about rifts?" the Doctor asked me.

Lying somewhat, I said "I like to read a lot. You'd be amazed at what stories you can find about this type of thing."

I didn't want to tell him about Torchwood again, for obvious reasons. I mean, it's bad enough that he trusted me in the first place, but to tell him "Oh yeah. Turns out the rift we're investigating now is the same one that I'm working on top of 136 years later"? Not such a good thing to say to the person who's probably the only chance you have at a better life.

"Plus" I said. "I read somewhere that rifts are the basis of most ghost stories."

Confirming it, Sneed realised "That's how I got the house so cheap, stories going back generations." Listing off his experiences, he continued, saying "Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air. And this feeling, like a shadow passing over your soul."

"Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business, just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."

Noticing the complete lack of Charles due to being enthralled in what the undertaker had said, I left the room to look after him.

"Charles! Where are you?" I called out.

Either he didn't hear me, or didn't want to. Either way, I found him back in the room where the bodies were back in their coffins, and he attempted to disprove this ordeal.

Hearing footsteps behind me, I turned around slowly to find the Doctor trying to make as little sound as he could, putting his finger up to his lips. I understood, and silently gestured to him that he should join me in the doorway.

Smiling, we both watched in amazement as Charles fiddled about with the coffin.

"Looking for strings?" the Doctor asked, breaking the silence.

"Wires, perhaps… There must be some mechanism behind this fraud."

Apologising, the Doctor and I said "Alright. We're sorry", though different versions of it. "I'm sorry for asking you about disbelieving this" I told him, while the former said "I'm sorry I told you to shut up."

Trying to cheer him up, the Doctor said "But Charles, you've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures."

"I cannot accept that" came the scared response.

"And what does the body do when it decomposes?" the Doctor asked him. "It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things. They can slip inside, and use it like a vehicle, just like your driver and his coach."

Attempting to end the conversation, Charles let out "Stop it!" Composing himself, he asked "Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?"

"It's not wrong" I replied. "There's just so much more to learn than what we already know. That's why we have curiosity to guide us."

Charles then went into a monologue about his life."I've always railed against the fantasists! Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, but that's exactly what they were, illusions. The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now, you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack-o'lanterns. In which case..." He trailed off. "Have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?"

Not knowing what to say, I just left in silence, wanting to leave those 2 alone with their thoughts while I looked for Rose.

I found her in a storage cupboard, talking to Gwyneth from earlier, while they were in the middle of a conversation about people, and it turned to those whom they had lost.

Walking towards them, I asked "You know about the loss of others all too well, I take it?", which scared Rose a little.

"Yes, sir. I'm afraid I do. I know you've been thinking about the people who have left you behind as well. So many people..."

"Watch it" I told her. "You're treading on some thin ice here." Not wanting to get the memories back twofold, I said "I'm sorry. I just don't like talking about that sort of thing."

"I understand, sir."

Curious, Rose asked "How do you know all of this?" Not just my dad, but Marty as well."

"Mr Sneed thinks I think too much. It's all alone, being down here. No servants to be around. But I bet you two have got lots of servants, haven't you?"

Looking at each other, smiling, we looked back at her and said "No. No servants where we're from."

"Not unless you're royalty" I added, jokingly.

"And you've come such a long way" Gwyneth said, mysteriously.

"What makes you think so?" Rose asked.

Walking closer to us, Gwyneth said to Rose, and then to me where we were from. "You're from different places, and they look so much alike. All those people, rushing about. Half-naked for shame. And the noise. The metal boxes racing past… And the birds in the sky… No. They're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you two have flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you two have seen. The darkness. The big, bad wolf."

The second she spoke the last word, she stepped back in horror, as I too felt the same way.

"Wait, you said both of us" I said, scared. "How can that be?"

"I don't know", Gwyneth replied. "I'm sorry. Ever since I was little, my mother said I had the sight. She told me to hide it."

"But now it's getting stronger" came the Doctor's voice from the doorway, making us all jump up. "More powerful. Is that right?"

"Jesus Christ!" I said, as the nerves were trying to stabilise.

"All the time, sir" Gwyneth told him. "Every night, voices in my head."

"You grew up on top of the rift" I said, realising. "You're part of it."

"You're the key", the Doctor said, finishing.

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table-rappers, all sorts."

"Well, that should help" the Doctor told us. "You can show us what to do."

"What to do where, sir?" she asked.

"Here" I said. "Get ready to use that sixth sense. We're gonna have a séance."

Getting all the supplies ready, we sat down as Gwyneth told us "This is how Madame Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come. We must all join hands."

"I can't take part in this", Charles said, disgusted.

"Humbug?" the Doctor asked him. "Come on. Open mind."

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery that I strive to umask. Seances! Nothing but luminous tambourines, and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

"How can you tell she knows nothing unless you give her a chance?" I asked him, pointing out the loophole.

"Come on" the Doctor said, also encouraging him. "We might need you."

Begrudgingly, Charles then sat back down on his seat, to the Doctor's reply of "Good man."

"Now, Gwyneth. Reach out", he told her, as we all joined hands.

There was nothing but silence for a few seconds before she said "Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."

As soon as Gwyneth spoke the last syllable, we looked up, and heard what sounded like voices coming from above the room.

"Do you hear that?" Rose asked, somewhat scared.

"Noting can happen. This is sheer folly", Charles protested.

"But look at her" I pointed, as Gwyneth did look like she was almost there to conversing with the others.

She spoke again, saying "I see them. I feel them!", right as what looked like the gaseous forms appeared, descending from the roof.

All of us could hear what sounded like whispers from the visitors, to which Rose asked "What's it saying?"

"It can't get through the rift" the Doctor replied, before turning to Gwyneth and said "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you. You're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can. Just believe it. We have faith in you, Gwyneth" I said, getting her confidence up. "Open the link."

That seemed to do the trick, because she responded simply with "Yes!", and then one of them appeared behind her, using her to communicate like a puppet.

"Great God", Sneed replied. "Spirits from the other side."

"The other side of the universe", the Doctor told him.

Then, "they" spoke using Gwyneth.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth, There is so little time. Help us."

"What do you want us to do?" The Doctor asked, plainly.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge" they replied.

"What for?" came the Doctor's second question.

"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

"Why? What happened?" he queried, wanting more answers.

"Once we had a physical form, like you. But then the War came."

"What war?" Charles interjected.

"The Time War" the Gelth replied. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species, but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

"So that's why you need the corpses" I realised with sadness.

"We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They go to waste. Give them to us."

"But you can't", Rose and I said together.

"Why not?" the Doctor asked us.

"It's just wrong" I answered. "It's not decent."

"Not decent? It could help save their lives" he replied.

"Gwyneth" then kept talking, saying "Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Pity us. Pity the Gelth!", before finishing, and collapsing onto the table.

While Rose went to comfort her, my focus was on Charles, who – after what he had just seen – only replied "All true. It's all true."

Bringing Gwyneth with us, we placed her carefully onto a lounge chair, where Rose looked after her.

A few minutes later, she woke up, only to be told by the latter to go back to sleep.

"But my angels, miss! They called out for me. They need me!" she said, sleepily.

"They _do_ need you, Gwyneth. You're their only chance of survival" the Doctor told her.

Angry, Rose turned to him and said "Leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles."

Asking the both of us a few questions, Sneed said "What do you say to them, Doctor? What did you call them?"

"Aliens" came his reply.

"Like foreigners, you mean?", not getting any clearer.

"Pretty foreign" I said, making it an understatement and pointing up to the sky. "Up there."

"Brecon?"

"Sure", I said, wanting to indulge the comparison, "And they've been trying to get from Brecon to Cardiff, but the road's blocked."

Picking up from where I left off, the Doctor said "Only a few can get through, and even then they're weak. They can only test-drive the bodies for so long. Then they have to revert to gas, and hide in the pipes."

"Which is why they need the girl?" Charles asked us.

Immediately, Rose looked at us. "They're not having her."

"But she can help" the Doctor replied. "Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge, and let them through."

"Incredible", Charles said, though it was hard to determine to tone of his speech, due to the amount of drinks he must have had to get himself through this. "Ghosts that are not ghosts, but beings from another world, who can only exist in our realm by inhabiting cadavers."

"Good system. It might work" the Doctor spoke.

"I don't know. Something about them seems off" I said, trying not to give the game away too quick. "I mean, why now? Why wait until _we_ show up so that they reveal themselves? And how do we know this isn't a bluff? For all we know, this could be a bigger thing than it is."

"Do you have any reason why you think this?" Charles asked me.

"Just a feeling" I answered. "But then again, this feeling always sends me and others down a dangerous path, whether it's intentional or not."

Rose was agreeing with me in one respect as she approached the Doctor.

"You can't just let them run around inside dead people" she told him.

"Why not?" he asked. "It's like recycling."

"You really can't" I said, backing her up.

"I really can."

"It's just wrong" Rose continued. "These were living people. We should respect them, even in death."

"Do either of you carry a donor card?" the Doctor asked us.

"It's different" we said together.

"Yeah, it's different. It's a different morality, so either shut up or go home."

Managing his temper, the Doctor said "You heard what they said. Time's short, and I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying. And even if it is something dangerous" he continued, acknowledging my point, "We still have to be cautious about how we do this. Alright?"

"Fine. But I still want to know what Gwyneth has to say about this" I replied.

Grateful that I recognised her involvement in it, Gwyneth thanked me, saying "I know that you must think me stupid, miss" referring to Rose, "Even things might be different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me."

Looking up, she asked "Doctor? What do I have to do?"

Staring at Rose, then back at her, he answered "You don't _have_ to do anything."

"They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mam on a holy mission, so tell me."

Finally, the Doctor replied "We need to find the rift."

Making his way back over to Sneed and Charles, he spoke to the former. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. "Mr Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of these ghosts have been seen."

Answering, Sneed said "That would be the morgue."

"Of course it is" I replied, scared. "Where else would they be coming from?"

Grabbing my scarf in case it got cold down in the morgue, we walked downstairs, with Sneed unlocking the door, and the Doctor stepping forwards to observe it saying "Blimey. Talk about Bleak House."

"The thing is, Doctor. The Gelth don't succeed. I know they don't, because I know they don't" Rose said, as we got into the room. "I know for a fact that corpses weren't walking around in 1869."

"Time is in flux" he replied. "It's changing every second. Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that" and snapped his fingers. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."

Not wanting to make her know about my plight, I said nothing to Rose at the moment.

Which was good, because Charles broke the silence, saying "Doctor, I think the room is getting colder."

"Jesus. Here they come" I replied, shivering a little.

Then, one of the Gelth appeared from the lamps, and lingered in an archway, saying "You've come. Praise the Doctor. Praise him."

Concerned, Rose shouted "Promise you won't hurt her!"

"Hurry! Please! So little time. Pity the Gelth!" they pleaded.

"I'll take you somewhere safe after the transfer" the Doctor spoke, advancing towards it. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?"

"My angels" Gwyneth said, happily. "I can help them live."

"Where's the weak point?" the Doctor asked it.

"Here, beneath the arch!"

"Be careful" I said, as Gwyneth moved under it. "I still think this is a trap."

"You don't have to do this!" Rose told her, as Gwyneth held her head for a few seconds.

"My angels", she spoke, which, sadly were her last words before she connected with them.

The instant both of them stood back, the Gelth called out "Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!"

"Yes. I can see you. I can see you! Come!" she said.

"Bridgehead establishing."

"Come to this world" Gwyneth continued. "Come to this world. Poor lost souls."

"It is begun! The bridge is made!" the Gelth cried out, before Gwyneth's mouth opened, and more of them poured out, like a floodgate releasing water. "She has given herself to the Gelth!"

"Rather a lot of them, eh?" Charles asked.

"More than I'd like there to be" I replied, hurriedly. "I'm getting out of here, before it gets worse."

As I got towards the door, I was too late.

The Gelth where Gwyneth was standing quickly turned from an electric blue to a fiery orange, and it became more demonic, letting out a laugh in the process.

"The Gelth will come through in force!" it proclaimed.

"You said that you were few in number!" Charles called out.

"A few billion! And all of us in need of corpses!"

I turned around quickly, noticing the dead that were rising back up from the tables and yelled "Look out behind you!", before covering my mouth with my scarf tight.

Sneed, however, was too slow, and although he bit the finger of someone who had got him, this opened up opportunities for him to be possessed.

"I think it's gone a bit wrong" the Doctor said, backing away with Rose.

As the Gelth advanced towards them, Charles had got the same idea as me, and I held the door open for him, while he yelled out "Doctor, I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me!"

Closing it tightly behind us, I ran after Charles, pulling my scarf down and yelling "Come back! You can still help us!"

"No, I can't" he called out. "I don't know what to do here!"

While we were arguing, one of the Gelth had followed us out through the gaps in the door, and floated outside into the cold.

It had almost caught up with us, when it stopped, and shouted "Failing! Atmosphere hostile!", before disappearing into the streetlight.

"Of course!" we said together. "The gas!"

Running back towards the house, we made our way through it and turned all the lights off, while keeping the gas high.

I again made sure my scarf was covering my mouth and nose, while Charles sadly had a handkerchief for him, which made him cough quite a bit.

We made it back into the morgue, and Charles shouted "Doctor! Doctor! Turn down the flame, turn up the gas. Now fill the room! All of it now!", as we raced around all the lamps in the room.

"Turn it all on!" Came my muffled yell, but still pointing to the lamps, just in case. "Flood the place!"

"Brilliant, gas!" the Doctor said.

"What, so we just choke to death instead?" Rose asked, not understanding.

"Am I correct, Doctor?" Charles also asked him, before saying "These creatures are gaseous" and covering his face up.

"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host" the Doctor explained to Rose. "Suck them into the air, like poison from a wound!"

"I hope this theory will be validated soon" Charles said, nervously. "If not immediately."

I couldn't speak because of my face being covered, but I got into a combat position and signalled to him that I'd be ready if it didn't pan out.

"Plenty more!" the Doctor called out, yanking a pipe key from beside him, and releasing more gas into the room.

That did the trick, as the Gelth were then freed from the bodies of who they had taken over, and flew into the room, dropping all the bodies as they left.

Opening the door that he and Rose had hid behind, the Doctor called out "Gwyneth, send them back. They lied, they're not angels!"

"Liars" she said simply.

"Look at me" he said, trying to comfort her. "If your mother and father could see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"

"Can't breathe!" Rose called out.

"Charles, Marty, get her out!" he said to us.

" _No need to tell us twice"_ I thought, as we quickly moved towards the door, even though Rose shouted out "I'm not leaving her!"

"Remember that world you saw? Rose and Marty's world? All those people. None of it will exist, unless you send them back through the rift!"

"I can't send them back" came her angry response. "But I can hold them. Hold them in this place. Get out" she said, reaching into her pocket.

Knowing what it was before she pulled it out, I said "Rose, we have to leave _now_!"

"You can't!" she yelled to Gwyneth, as we saw that it was a matchbox.

"I won't leave her while she's in danger. Now, go!"

And go, we did, running out towards the street where we knew we would be safe from the explosion, just waiting for the Doctor.

He arrived, jumping out from the building a few seconds before it blew up, sending shrapnel near our direction.

Looking at the Doctor for an answer to her unspoken question, Rose just said "She didn't make it."

"I'm sorry" the Doctor and I told her. "She closed the rift."

"At such a cost. The poor child" Charles put in.

"I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead" the Doctor continued. "She had been for at least 5 minutes."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"She was dead the second she stood in that arch" I finished, looking down.

"But she can't have been. She spoke to us. Saved us" Rose replied.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor" Charles spoke.

"Well said" I stated.

"She saved the world. A servant girl. No-one will never know." Rose said.

"No-one except for us 4" I replied.

Slowly, but surely, we made our way back to the Tardis, and the Doctor walked up to the door.

"Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, um, shed" he said, smiling as he searched around for the key.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Rose asked him.

"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own."

"Good on you" I replied. "Christmas is a time to be with the family. It only comes once a year, so might as well make the most of it."

"Indeed, I shall. My family's Christmas will be filled with my own amends towards them. After all I've learnt tonight, there can be nothing more vital."

"You've cheered up", the Doctor said, smiling.

"Exceedingly!" Charles shouted. Chuckling, he said "This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now, I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired. I must write about them!"

"Do you really think that's wise?" Rose and I asked him, with myself saying "There's gonna be a lot of people trying to debunk the stories."

"I will be subtle, at first" he comforted us. "The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth!"

Pausing for dramatics, he said "The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and the Blue Elementals!"

"Rolls right off the tongue" I said, laughing.

"I can spread the word, tell the truth!"

"Good to meet you" the Doctor said, shaking his hand before opening the door of the Tardis. "Nice to meet you, fantastic."

"Bye, then. And thanks" Rose said, being next.

Lastly, I shook his hand and said "Goodbye Charlie. Too bad I couldn't get an autograph."

He laughed, and then realised "Thank you, but I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"

"You'll see" I told him, as I pointed to the Tardis. "In the shed."

"Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained" he said, right as the Doctor was about to step in. "Answer me this… Who are you?"

After a few seconds, the Doctor replied "Just a friend. Passing through."

"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't mean to impose on you, but I must ask you… My books, Doctor. Do they last?"

"Oh, yes" he answered.

"For how long?"

"Forever" I told him. "Until your legacy ceases to be, your works will still have a place in reader's hearts and minds."

"Right, then. Come on Rose" the Doctor said. "In the box. You too, Marty."

"In the box? The three of you?" Charles enquired.

"Down boy" I said, entering in.

As I closed the door behind me, Rose asked "Doesn't that change history, if he writes about blue ghosts?"

"He won't be able to" I told her, sadly. "In a week's time, it'll be 1870, and he dies on the 8th of June. His story will never be finished."

"Oh, no. He was so nice" Rose replied, looking at the monitor.

"But in your time, he was already dead" the Doctor pointed out. "We've brought him back to life and he's more alive than he's ever been. Old Charlie Boy."

"Plus, we've made his last Christmas probably the best one he's had for years" I finished. "Speaking of which..." I smiled, "How about one last surprise for him?"

"You read my mind" the Doctor replied. "Hold on."

Then, the old girl started up, and we left a very happy and laughing Charles Dickens behind, staring at a vanishing police box on the early hours of Christmas Day.

"Well, I'm away to get out of these" I said, pointing at my clothes. "I can still smell the gas on them. Shame, really. I like this suit."

"There's a washing room 4th door on the right" the Doctor said, pointing straight ahead. "Put your clothes in there, and then you can get them done quickly before you know it."

"Alright. Thanks. Are you coming, Rose?" I asked.

"No. It's fine. I'll wait" she replied.

"Suit yourself" I said, pun not intended.

Making my way through the Tardis, I came to the door that the Doctor said, which turned out to be full of washing machines.

Picking one near the entrance, I took off everything but my underwear, for obvious reasons. I left the shoes in a corner and then put everything else, even the shirt, in the machine.

Leaving the machine to run, I then walked back towards my bedroom, where I changed into more suitable clothes. In the end, I went for light blue jeans, a Star Wars t-shirt with Chewbacca on the front, and a red jumper, which I placed over one of the chairs in my room. All topped off with a pair of black and white trainers at the foot of my bed.

Looking around for my phone, I saw it, and went to charge it. As I did, I saw that I had got a lot of messages and voicemail from Jack. 24 of each, to be exact.

Reading and hearing them, they all said the same thing.

" _Where are you? I've been trying to reach you for ages, but there's no response. Call me when you get this."_

Immediately I did, closing the door so that I couldn't be heard.

It rang 3 times, then he spoke, in a somewhat scared tone.

"Marty, thank God. Are you alone?"

"Yeah. What's up?" I asked, cautiously.

"What's up? I'm getting readouts on the Manipulator that say there's been a massive power surge here when the rift is stable on my side, that's what's up. Care to fill me in?"

"Alright. I've just met Charles Dickens in 1869 and long story short, ended up creating the source of the rift the both of us are working at" I replied, quietly. The door may have been closed, but the walls could be paper thin for all I knew.

"That's not all" I continued to the sound of silence as Jack took this all in.. "There was a woman there, who closed the rift at that time by giving her life. Her name was Gwyneth, but I think she may have had descendants now. I didn't get a surname, but if you have a pencil and paper, I can give you an idea of what she looked like."

"Holy shit" Jack's response came back, followed by the sound of rustling. "Ok, I'm ready."

So I told him what Gwyneth looked like, down to the very last detail.

"Remind me why I have this?" He asked when he finished.

"Because I want you to find her and put her under surveillance" I replied. "A few years down the line, and she could be a valuable member of Torchwood. Trust me. You won't regret it."

"I don't know about this" he said, after a few seconds.

"Come on. You've known people like me before and after you got settled up here" I told him. "Besides, have I ever led you wrong before?"

"Aside from that incident in Brazil, not really."

"That was _one_ time!" I said. "Besides, I didn't think I'd need to speak Portuguese _well_. How was _I_ to know I was asking the wrong guy? I didn't exactly take it as a language class in high school!

Next thing I know, you come in to help sort out the deal and he takes your head off! Though the look on his face when you got back up. That was something to see."

"Yeah. Fun times" Jack laughed. "Alright. I'll do it, if you help me out with another job whenever you're free."

"Sounds good. I'll help, but it had better pay well."

"Don't they always?"

"I don't know. My account hasn't been used much lately, and I'm worried it might be empty" I replied. "You wouldn't have anything to do with it, would you?"

"No idea what you mean."

" _Sure_ you don't. Okay.. Take care, buddy."

"Take care. Bye."

And with that, he ended the call, leaving me in my room, waiting for something to do.

In the end, I went over to the weapons workbench and started crafting ammunition that would be useful in the long run. Thankfully, the Tardis had adhered to my request and gave me supplies that seemingly wouldn't run out, making what I was about to much easier.

In literally no time at all, I had made shit that would make Q from James Bond fall to his knees.

Bastic bullets for Daleks, Gold tipped ones for Cybermen, modified armour piercing ones for Sontarans and so many more types. Basically, I literally was a one man army, prepared for any threat that would come before everyone currently in the Tardis.

Getting pretty tired, I lay back on my bed and fell asleep, again ready for the next adventure through time and space.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done when it came to the Doctor...

 **A/N 2**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you want to see more, review, follow and favourite for more! There will be a new chapter every week, so stay tuned.**

 **Just in case you were wondering about the flashback idea that I said I'd put in during the Rose chapter, rest assured. There will be a _very_ poignant one in the next chapter, given what the start of the episode entails. If you are put off by what happens, I apologise in advance. However, I will not show events from it, but I will have reference to it a few days prior to it happening, as well as have a few pieces of news coverage summing up what happens.**

 **Other than that, get ready for the next chapter, as we head back to London, though it may not be in the same time that we left at...**


	7. London Calling

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 7 - London Calling**

 **A/N**

 **Well, this is the quickest I've ever managed to do a chapter in, though given how little there is happening in the original episode, this is a bit of a given.**

 **Last chapter we saw the best of times, and the worst of times, all rolled up into one Christmas. In this chapter, we return back to London, where aliens may be invading sooner than we want them to.**

 **Like I said at the end of the last chapter, I may offend people in this one, given that I said the flashback here would be poignant.**

 **I've tried to skim over as much as I could without explicitly saying what the comparison is. Trust me. You'll know when the flashback appears in here.**

 **Aside from that, feel free to read on!**

Waking up, I heard the Tardis as it landed, and put my trainers on so I was ready to go back out.

"Well, this is us" the Doctor said to Rose as I walked towards the console. "You got one trip to the future, and one to the past. Hope that was enough for you."

"More or less" she replied, walking towards the doors.

Opening them, all 3 of us walked out, and Rose asked "How long have I been gone?"

"About 12 hours" the Doctor told her.

Laughing, she walked backwards towards her flat, saying "Right. I won't be long. I just want to see my mum."

"What are you gonna tell her?" the Doctor asked.

"That I've been to the year 5 billion and only been gone, what, 12 hours? Nah, I'll tell her I spent the night at Shireen's. See you later" she told us, as I took out my phone to check the time.

My eyes widened as I saw the now nearly full inbox of it from Jack, which prevented me from seeing the bigger picture in the very top of my screen.

" _Oh, shit. Is this what I think it means?"_ I thought, as I called him again.

Picking up after 3 rings, he answered in the same scared tone as I had heard him before.

"Marty, do you know how long you've been gone for?" he asked.

"Somehow, I think it's a lot longer than we planned for" I answered.

"Look at your surroundings" Jack told me simply.

"I don't know what you mean…. Oh, shit. Please don't let it be what I think it is..." I said, noticing a poster that was hanging off a pole.

"I'm afraid it is, Marty. And believe me, Rose is in more trouble than ever."

"Gotta go. I'll call you later" I said hurriedly, hanging up.

"Doctor! I think you might want to see this!" I yelled, gesturing him over to it.

He said nothing as we looked at it for a few seconds, then quickly ran towards Rose's flat.

Busting the door open, the Doctor said to Rose, who was in Jackie's cuddling arms, "It's not 12 hours. It's 12 months. You've been gone a whole year. Sorry!"

Soon the police were called in, and we listened to Jackie's angry ranting about Rose.

"The hours I sat here, days and weeks and months. All on my own! I thought you were dead. And where were you? Travelling! What the hell does that mean, travelling? That's no sort of answer."

Turning to the policeman who had arrived, she said "You ask her. She won't tell me. That's all she says, "travelling"."

"That's what I was doing." Rose told her.

"Well, your passport's still in the drawer. It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did. I just forgot.." Rose trailed off.

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year? And I'm left sitting here. I just don't believe you! Why won't you tell me where you've been?"

Interjecting, the Doctor said "It's actually my fault. I employed both her and this man" referring to me, "as my companions."

"When you say companions, is this a sexual relationship?" the policeman asked us.

"No!" all three of us said at the same time.

"Then what is it, then?" Jackie asked him, "Because you waltz in here, all charm and smiles, and the next think I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you, then? In your 40s? What, did you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"

"I _am_ a doctor!" he protested.

"Prove it. Stitch this, mate." And with that, she slapped him across the cheek, which made him fall backwards while he tried to recover.

Wanting to make myself scarce, I walked towards the door with the Doctor, hoping the police wouldn't know about my "after hours" activity.

"Come on" I told him. "We can go outside to the aerial roof. At least there, you'll be out where it's not as bad."

"After you" he said, cheek still burning.

While we made our way to the roof, the Doctor asked "Who was that you were on the phone with before?"

"The person who helped me out here" I replied. "They told me to look at my surroundings, and I noticed that poster really fast. Luckily, I did, otherwise we'd both be up shit creek."

"Still can't believe it's a year past" I continued. "Anything good happen while we were away?"

"I'm not sure. I don't keep up to date with recent affairs."

"Fat lot of good you are" I told him, as we approached the door leading out to the roof.

It only took about a minute of silence before Rose showed up to greet us.

"I can't tell her" she said, sitting down. "I can't even begin. She's never gonna forgive me."

"Now you know how _I_ feel" I replied. "With this sort of thing, it's only a close-knit group that you need to share it with, and even _that's_ scary enough."

"And I missed a year. Was it good?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"I've just asked that same thing before you showed up" I laughed, "And he says he doesn't keep up to date with it."

"You're so useless" she spoke.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" he asked.

"I don't know" Rose replied. "Can't do that to her again, though."

"Well, she's not coming with us."

We then laughed as Rose said "No chance."

"She _slapped_ you" I said, still laughing. "I mean, it's bad, but Jesus Christ."

"900 years, and I've never been slapped by anyone's mother."

"Your face."

"It _hurts_ " the Doctor said, rubbing it.

"When you say 900 years…" Rose said.

"That's my age" he replied.

"He's not kidding. He really is that age" I said, backing him up.

Shaking her head in agreement, Rose just said "My mum was right. That was _hell_ of an age gap."

As she pushed herself away from us, she continued with "Every conversation with you two just goes mental. There's no-one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and we're the only people on planet Earth who know they exist."

"Welcome to adventuring with the Doctor" I replied. "Still, as long as you've got us you have people to talk to. Hold on… Can you two hear that?" I said, listening out for the noise as it approached.

Neither of them had to question what I was hearing, as a giant spaceship flew in from right behind us with its horn blasting and coming in for a crash landing.

Ducking down behind the cover provided, we could only watch as it descended towards the centre of London.

"Oh that's just not fair" Rose said as all 3 of us got up.

"Come on!" I replied. "If we hurry, we might be able to see where it ends up!"

Running down the stairs, we legged it across London to find out that the roads were all blocked by the army and that the spaceship had skimmed one of Big Ben's faces and crashed into the Thames.

"We're miles from the centre" Rose said, panting. "The city must be gridlocked. The whole of London must be closing down."

"I know, I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic" the Doctor replied, happily.

"I already know what you'll answer with, but I'm gonna ask anyway" I told him. "Did you know this was gonna happen?"

"Nope!"

"Do you recognise the ship?"

"Nope!"

"Do you know why it crashed?"

"Nope!"

"Well, so glad we got you" Rose finished.

"This is what I live for, you two. To see history happening right in front of us."

"Well, let's go and see it" Rose said. "Never mind the traffic, we've got the Tardis."

"You really want 2 spaceships bundled together for the price of one?" I asked.

"Besides, you never know who'll be watching in an emergency like this."

Agreeing with me, the Doctor said "Trust me, the Tardis stays where it is."

"Well, we could always do what everyone else does" Rose put in. "We could watch it on TV."

Fine by me" I replied. "I just want to check a few things in the Tardis first." Noticing the look from the Doctor, I said "Don't worry. I can't fly it anyway. I just want to know what we're dealing with. And where else than somewhere that's quiet and away from everyone?"

20 minutes later, we got back to where the Tardis was still standing, only a little kid had spray-painted the words "Bad Wolf" onto the side of it.

"When I find the kid that did this, they're cleaning this off" the Doctor said, disgusted.

"See you soon" I told him, opening the doors. "Just be careful of the noise. Something like this is bound to cause a lot of people indoors."

"Don't cause any trouble" he replied.

"You're one to talk" I smiled, as I walked into the Tardis.

Turning the monitor on, I spoke out loud to her.

"I want you to give me coverage on this event as it plays out. I want to know what this spaceship is about, and where it's from. Got that?"

" _I will do it on one condition. You must fulfil one of my favours afterwards."_ she replied.

"Alright. What is this favour?" I asked cautiously.

" _I want… a voice."_

"I'm sorry. What?" I asked, wondering if I'd heard that right.

" _You did indeed hear me correctly. For too long I have been a literal silent partner towards the Doctor, and would now like a voice so I can be heard by all, and not just by you."_

"Even if I did want to give you a voice, how would I do that?" I asked. "It's not like you still have a copy of your manual lying about. I mean, the Doctor himself said that one of his first few incarnations disagreed with it and threw it into a black hole."

" _You would be mistaken. So long as the Doctor is nostalgic for his past, I am as well. I have multiple copies of my manual stored away for ease of access. I will give you it after this thing that you wish to use, on the grounds that it must be done quickly. So, do we have a deal?"_

Too speechless to respond for a few seconds, I just replied "Y-Yes. Sure. Ok."

" _Very well. You may proceed."_

As the Tardis showed the news footage of the spaceship's aftermath, I couldn't help but feel really sad at the comparisons that had happened -by this time- 5 years ago, only a lot more tragic…

 **A/N I cannot apologise enough for this next part if you are offended.**

 **5 years earlier…**

" _We both know what day is coming up, so we need to get you into New York ASAP" I told Jack, packing his bags._

" _No. No way. I am not doing it."_

" _Well, it's either you or me, and last time I checked, I wasn't fucking immortal."_

" _Immortal doesn't mean I'm fireproof!"_

" _Then get the right equipment for it!" I yelled._ _Pausing, I said pleadingly "I'm sorry, Jack but you **need** to do this."_

" _Marty. I **can't**. We both know what's at stake here if I interfere with history" he argued, angrily._

" _I'm not asking you to change history completely" I said, before realising how bad that sounded. I took a deep breath before saying "I just want you to limit the body count. I want you to go in and get as many people as you can out of there. If you do, it'll still happen, but less people will die as a result. I'm asking you as a friend. Please do this for everyone who'll be affected by it."_

 _Finally, he replied "Alright. Fine. I'll do it, but I'm gonna need supplies while I'm there. I'll need a mask and breathing equipment as well as blankets to put out the fires. I'll go and find some of my old contacts to see if they have anything."_

" _Thanks."_

" _Don't thank me now.. This hasn't even started yet" Jack said, giving me a dirty look as he left the Torchwood hub._

 _2 weeks later, he phoned me from New York, a few minutes before it happened._

 _Picking it up, I answered._

" _Marty, I just want you to know that whatever happens to me, at least a lot of people will be better off" he said. "If I'm not one of the bodies found and I make it out safe, I'll wait it out for a few weeks until it's safe to come back home. If I am one of those found, well, hopefully I can pull a few strings to get my way."_

" _I understand. Godspeed, Captain."_

" _Yeah. Goodbye, Marty."_

 _With that, Jack hung up and I turned on the news, waiting for the inevitable announcement that was about to come._

 _Closing my eyes, I could almost imagine the explosions that were happening over where Jack was, and I felt the tears running down my face already._

" _If there is a God, please let Jack succeed here" I muttered as the first news reports started coming in of the destruction and all I could do was watch._

 _Harrowing though it may have been, I still watched as people were rescued amidst the chaos and thanks to Jack's efforts, the body count was lowered quite significantly. I mean, a lot of people still perished in that event, but thanks to what he did that day alongside other rescuers, many people still managed to see their families again after this was over._

 _I knew they couldn't save all of the people who worked there, but even so, Jack still did his best to get as many as he could out of there before the worst was over._

 _True to his word, he called me a month later from New Jersey before he came back._

" _How are you?" I asked, concerned._

" _I don't know. I really don't know" Jack answered, and I could hear the sadness in his voice._

" _How many did you manage to get out?"_

" _About 100-150." he choked._

" _That's not so bad" I said, also trying not to cry._

" _When you get back here, we can have a memorial toast to those who were lost. My treat."_

 _Laughing through his tears, Jack replied "Sure. Why not? Remember to start with the good stuff first. Pretty sure both of us will need it after this."_

" _I will. Take care, Jack. I'll be waiting at the airport for you when you come back."_

 _A day later, he arrived back in Cardiff, and I gave him a hug when he came over to me._

 _Knowing what he had went through, I just let him cry it out on my shoulder while we said nothing until we got back to the hub._

 _Getting 2 glasses and pouring them out, I gave one to Jack and said "To the fallen ones. May they be remembered by the living forever-more."_

 _Clinking them together, he repeated it and we sat down in silence sharing the bottles between us._

 **5 years later…**

Snapping back out of my trance, I looked at my watch to see that half an hour had passed, without any progress from the Tardis. Taking my phone out to call Jack in case he had made any leeway, he answered right away.

"Marty! Please tell me you're ok!"

"Yes. We're all fine" I replied. "Rose didn't exactly return home to a happy mother, but I think she's managing well. She and the Doctor are both in her flat watching that alien coverage on TV. And I'm here in the Tardis trying to determine what spaceship it is, with no luck. Anything on your end?"

"Glad you asked. As soon as it appeared in orbit, I set the scanners at the rift to do a sweep of it."

"And?"

"Nothing. At least nothing that I've seen before. Whatever it is, it's perfectly set up. I mean the angle of descent, the colour of its smoke. It's a crash landing, alright. The only question is, what's it covering up?"

"You think it's a con?" I asked.

"I've been on both sides of this type of thing before. Trust me. I know cons of this scale like the back of my own hand. Be careful. We still don't know what's behind this, so be armed and ready."

"Don't have to tell me twice" I said. "I'll talk to you later, when we've got something concrete. Knowing the Doctor, he'll want to visit this thing after hours, so that'll be his first stop. After that, who knows? Probably right into the lion's den, so to speak."

"I hear ya. Call me when you've found something. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I hung up and waited for the Doctor. I didn't waste the time, though. The second I ended the call, I ran towards my room and grabbed as many ammo clips with armour piercing rounds as I could, putting them into my trouser pockets and covering them with my jacket so they hopefully wouldn't be seen by anyone. All I needed was a pistol for them, but knowing what would happen soon anyway, some soldier would either drop one by accident, or I'd have to subdue one of them. My money was heavily leaning on the former to happen, but the latter was equally as likely.

I walked back to the console and looked at the monitor, switching it to a view around the Tardis.

Soon, I heard the door unlock and the Doctor stepped in.

"Anything?" he asked me, coming up to the console.

"Nope" I replied. "Silence. What about you?"

"Just noisy neighbours. That, and the news are being very confidential. So there's only one thing for it."

"Hospital where they took the pilot?" I asked. "I saw a clip of it on the news."

"Yep. Hold on. We're going there right now."

Swiftly moving around the console, the Doctor pushed every control he could to make the journey much easier, even bringing in a mallet to finish the job, which he kissed afterwards.

"How she puts up with you doing that, I'll never know" I said as we landed.

Smiling, the Doctor opened the doors of the Tardis, to find storage trolleys in front of us.

"Well, this is off to a great start" I whispered to him.

Silently, we shimmied through them to find a locked door. Pulling the sonic screwdriver out, he went to buzz the lock, only to find it was on a high frequency.

"Shh" he whispered to it, keeping it as quiet as he could.

In no time at all, the door was unlocked and he opened it, only to find ourselves in front of Army soldiers chatting to themselves.

It took a few seconds before they realised we were there, and immediately, they aimed their rifles at the two of us as both of us smiled in their torches.

The silence was then broken by a woman's scream, which the Doctor moved towards, yelling "Defence plan Delta! Move! Move!" and leading the troops while I went behind him.

Soon we approached the morgue of the hospital, where we encountered a female doctor hiding behind a desk.

"It's alive" she whispered.

Giving strict protocols to the men, the Doctor said "Spread out, tell the perimeter it's a lockdown."

As he went to comfort the woman, who I now recognised as Tosh, I quickly yelled out to the men "If you spot it, _do not_ shoot to kill! It was brought in alive, and it had better stay that way!", hoping that at least one of them would get the message. If not, I had better find a white flag fast.

Agreeing with me, the Doctor yelled "Do it!"

Comforting Tosh, she just said "It's still alive."

"Coma, shock, hibernation" he said, naming all the ways it could have survived, "What does it look like?"

We didn't have to wonder for long, because we immediately heard a clank coming from the other side of the room behind a desk.

"It's still here" he realised.

"I'll take the left, you take the right" I whispered to him, as we crept forwards, ready to intercept it.

Sliding across the floor, I was the one who saw it first.

We both poked our heads out, and it turned out to be a pig. An ordinary pig in a spacesuit.

"Hello" I said, as it noticed me.

Squealing, it took off, with me right behind it and the Doctor behind me.

Knowing that not all of the soldiers had probably heard me yelling about the shooting, I managed to get in front of it and shield it from them before they opened fire.

Unfortunately, the pig was still scared, and broke free from my grip, leaving it open to get shot by a single bullet from one of the soldiers who thought it was attacking him.

"What did you do that for?" I asked, leaning down to comfort it. "I said " _Don't_ shoot to kill", but I guess you didn't hear me."

"It was scared" the Doctor said, also comforting it. "It was scared."

Bringing it back to the morgue for real this time, we placed it onto an operating table where all 3 of us got a good look at it.

"I just assumed that's what aliens looked like" Tosh said at last. "But you're saying it's an ordinary pig, from Earth."

"More like a mermaid" he replied. "Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds, by taking the skull of a cat, gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now, someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on, then they've strapped it to that ship, made it dive-bomb. It must have been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke."

"If it wasn't for it dying, we could have done something about it, right?" I asked him. "I mean, put it back to the way it was before."

"No. Unfortunately, there's nothing to come back from after this amount of surgery, especially since that sort of technology can't be removed without killing it. I'm sorry. There wasn't anything we could have done" the Doctor sadly said.

"So, it's a fake, a pretend, like the mermaid" Tosh said, consulting her notes. "But the technology augmenting its brain, it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens. Why would they do that?"

Turning around, she had asked that to a now empty room as we ran back towards the Tardis.

"Next thing is to get back to Rose and fill her in on this" I told him, "whether she likes it or not."

As the Tardis landed back where it was, I realised that Mickey and Jackie were probably with Rose now.

" _Oh God. Here comes trouble"_ I thought, as the Doctor stared at the monitor while Rose walked in.

"Alright, so I lied. We went and had a look. But the whole crash-landing thing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben? Come on."

"They're right behind you, aren't they?" I asked Rose, hoping she knew what I meant.

As she nodded in embarrassment, I prayed that it would be over soon.

"Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!" he told her, as Jackie and Mickey took all of this in with justified confusion.

"You ruined my life, Doctor" Mickey said, then realising that I was here beside him said "Both of you did. They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you two."

"See what I mean? Domestic" the Doctor said to Rose nonplussed.

"I bet you two don't even remember my name!" Mickey shouted angrily.

"Ricky"

"It's Mickey" he and I replied together.

"No, it's Ricky."

"Really, it's Mickey" I said, defending him.

"I think I know my own name."

"You _think_ you know your own name? How stupid are you?"

"Just leave it!" I yelled to him, not realising until too late that Jackie had left the Tardis.

"Mum!" Rose yelled, running after her. "Don't start a fight" she said to all 3 of us.

"That was a real spaceship?" she asked, as she came back in the Tardis.

"Yep!" the doctor responded.

"So it was all a pack of lies. What is it, then, that they're invading?"

"No idea" I told her. "We've only just got back from looking at the pilot… Thanks to the people stationed there, it didn't make it."

"So what did it look like?"

"It was a pig. One that they picked up, messed with its brain, and then put into the spaceship so it could crash land."

"I'm sorry."

"Funny way to invade, though" Mickey interjected, "putting the world on red alert."

"Good point" the Doctor told him. "So what are they up to?"

Leaving the monitor, he then went under the console and fiddled about with it.

Mickey noticed, and asked "So, what are you doing down there?"

"Ricky."

"Mickey."

"Ricky" he said with finality. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"

"I suppose not..."

"Well, shut it, then" the Doctor told him.

Mickey then walked back over to Rose while I kept my eyes on the monitor in case of any updates around us.

"Some friends you've got" he said to her.

"The Doctor's only winding you up, and Marty's harmless" she replied. "Mostly harmless."

"I'm actually fine with that remark" I said. "Sums me up pretty well."

"I _am_ sorry" she said to Mickey.

"Ok" not believing her.

"I _am_ though."

"Every day, I looked. On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box, for a whole year."

"It's only been a few days for us, though. I don't know. It's hard to tell inside this thing. But I swear, it's only been a few days since I left you."

"Not enough time to miss me, though."

"I _did_ miss you."

Breaking the silence, the Doctor yelled "Got it!" as I still watched the monitor.

"Patched in the radar, looped it back 12 hours, so it'll follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go!"

"It's not moving" I said.

"Come on!" he said, tapping the top of it, which got the monitor to work.

Pointing at it, he said "There's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except, hold on… The spaceship did a slingshot around the Earth before it landed."

"So what does that mean?" Rose asked.

"It came from Earth in the first place" I replied, realising. "It went up and came back down. Oh, that _is_ clever. Insane, but also clever. Whoever these guys are, I _will_ give them credit for staging this. Their master plan could be to conquer the world, but I still applaud this part of it at least."

"Glad you approve of this section" the Doctor told me. "Whoever they are, they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while. Question is, what have they been doing?"

As we continued to browse through the media that was playing on the Tardis monitor, the Doctor stopped on one that had government officials walking towards the camera.

"Hold on, I know that lot" the Doctor said. "UNIT! United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people."

"How do you know them?" Rose asked.

"He's worked for them in the past" both Mickey and myself said.

"Don't think I've sat on my backside for 12 months, Doctor" Mickey said, pointing at him. "I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead."

"It's not _his_ fault" I said. "Trouble sticks to him like glue. _He_ can't help what happens!"

"If you know them, why don't you go and help?" Rose asked him.

"They wouldn't recognise me. I've changed a lot since the old days" the Doctor replied.

" _You have no idea how right you are"_ I thought, smirking.

Continuing, the Doctor said "Besides, the world's on a knife edge. There's aliens out there, and fake aliens want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover. I'd better keep the Tardis out of sight."

Turning to Mickey, he said "Ricky. You've got a car. You can do some driving."

"Where to?" he asked as the Doctor led all 4 of us out the doors.

"The roads are clearing. Let's have a look at that ship" the Doctor replied, opening the door.

As he opened the door and stepped out, we were all greeted to the sound of a helicopter overhead, followed by a voice yelling out "Do not move! Step away from the box! Raise your hands above your heads!"

"So much for the undercover route" I said, slowly doing just that.

As Mickey legged it across the ground followed by the army who had shown up and surrounded the Tardis, the voice continued to yell "Raise your hands above your head! You are under arrest!"

"Is it too late to say "We come in peace", or is that a bad thing?" I asked, as we were led away into a car.

As all 3 of us entered it, Rose said "This is a bit posh. If I knew it was gonna be like this, getting arrested, I would have done it years ago."

"We're not being arrested, we're being escorted" the Doctor replied.

"The guy who yelled at us from the megaphone begs to differ" I said.

"Where are we being escorted to?" Rose asked.

"Where do you think? Downing Street" the Doctor replied, as all of us laughed.

"Seriously? 10 Downing Street?" I asked, still laughing.

"That's the one."

"How come?" Rose asked.

"I hate to say it, but both Mickey and you were right" the Doctor answered, speaking to me. "Over the years, I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, uh, noticed."

"Told you. You don't leave squeaky clean and have no witnesses" I said. "Why do you think this parade is out here?"

"And now they need you" Rose summed up.

"Like it said on the news, they're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?"

"Patrick Moore?" Rose answered, while I did the same with "Brian Cox?"

"Apart from them" the Doctor said.

"Well, don't you just love it?" Rose asked, cheekily.

"Oh, I'm telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?"

"How should _we_ know?" I asked. "You made us miss a year."

As the car came to a complete stop outside the familiar location, the doors were opened and we got out, while I kept my face down and hidden in case anyone recognised me from what I had done a few years prior.

A member of staff had already held the door for us as we walked in and joined everyone else who was on the VIP list, which turned out to be at least 30.

An aide then told us to walk into the room he was pointing to, and gave the Doctor his ID card.

"Your companions aren't allowed clearance, I'm afraid."

"I don't go anywhere without them" the Doctor replied.

"You're the Code Nine, not them. I'm sorry, Doctor. They'll have to stay outside."

"They're staying with me" he argued.

"Look, even _I_ don't have clearance to be in there. I can't let them in, and that's a fact."

"It's alright. I'll stay" Rose said, as I shrugged, agreeing.

Suddenly, the aide was pulled to one side, and then someone whispered in his ear, looking at me.

Wondering if I actually _had_ made one of their lists, my face turned white for a few seconds.

That was apparently the case, until they approached me with an ID card of my own.

"I've been ordered to give this to you by someone from a non-governmental organisation" he said simply. "They say, and I quote, "Please enjoy the party", whatever that means."

"What was that about?" the Doctor asked me.

"Honestly, I have no idea" I replied as I put it on. "Someone out there must really want me to be here."

Then, thinking of Jack and his reach towards others, I smiled. "Actually, I think I know _exactly_ who it is."

"Who?"

"My contact. Let's just say they can be _very_ persuasive" I whispered to him.

Walking with him to the cabinet room where the meeting was taking place, I scanned the guards and people in the room, to see if any of them were carrying.

As luck would have it, there were 10 people close to where I sat down, and I could see the butt of a pistol sticking out from their holsters.

I just needed to wait for the right moment...

The meeting kicked off right away and the "general" spoke, saying "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please" as he held out a dossier that everyone had on their seats.

"As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had only one porcine pilot."

"Of course, the _really_ interesting bit happened three days ago, see?" the Doctor said, interrupting him.

The Doctor held everybody's attention, saying "Filed under any other business, the North Sea satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation at 100 fathoms."

Keeping them still talking, the Doctor continued, saying "Like there's something down there. You were about to investigate, and then, the next thing you know, this happens. Spaceships. Pigs. Massive diversion. From what?"

Knowing that everyone was still enraptured by him talking, bar myself, who was keeping an eye out for trouble, he kept talking. "If aliens fake an alien crash, and an alien pilot, what do they get?"

Answering him, I said "Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap."

Realising that everyone had now turned to me, I said "This is all about us in this room. Alien experts. The only people with the knowledge to find them, gathered together in one room."

Standing up and knowing this was my chance to draw them out, I continued, asking "If I were an alien who wanted to eliminate everyone in this room _right now_ , how would I do it? Gas, maybe? No, that would leave traces in the air and there aren't any vents for it to disperse through.

How about poison? Again, no. Traces would still be left, but on the bodies and everyone would see it coming. _Or_..." I said, ripping off my ID card and holding it up. "How about something that everyone carried in here with them without realising? Something that would make _sure_ the bodies are identified?"

Throwing it down in front of me and kicking it forward, I wasn't surprised when I got a lot of disapproving and shocked faces looking back at me, nor when one of the people at the front let out a loud fart.

"Excuse me. Do you mind not farting when my friend here raises a good point to saving the world?" the Doctor asked.

"Would you prefer silent but deadly?" the politician one asked, smiling as the "general" took of their cap and unzipped their forehead.

In about 20 seconds, they were unveiled, and said in a gurgling voice said "We are the Slitheen."

Surprisingly, no-one did anything, as they were all staring in shock and awe at what was happening, which was sadly how they would quickly and literally end up.

Pulling out a detonator looking device out of his jacket, the one who hadn't "changed" said "It's too bad you didn't listen to this poor young man" as he pointed at me with his free hand. "He _really_ was telling the truth about your ID cards."

And he pressed the button, giving everyone apart from me and the Doctor to a lesser extent a fatal electric shock as I could only look on in horror and watch them die while backing towards the door for a way out, keeping my eyes on the Slitheen as they cackled and moved towards me...

 **A/N 2**

 **Make sure to favourite, review and follow for more!**

 **Again, if I offended anyone during this chapter, I am so sorry. Feel free to yell at me all you want.**

 **Next chapter, we continue the assault inside Downing Street, and hopefully see the Slitheen get their comeuppance among other things.**

 **Until then, thanks for reading!**


	8. Mean Green Mothers (From Outer Space)

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 8- Mean, Green Mothers (From Outer Space)**

 **A/N Welcome back to the second part of this alien invasion. Honestly didn't think I'd be able to do 2 chapters in one week, but there's a first time for everything.**

 **In the last chapter, we dealt with the possibility of alien life actually coming to Earth, and what it meant for the experts.**

 **This chapter, we discover that there's not a lot you can do when aliens are in power and all you have is your word. Sometimes, you need to do more so that you can succeed.**

 **Until then, read on!**

 **I do not own the rights to Doctor Who. All I own is the plot of this story.**

As the Doctor struggled with his ID card, picking it up and saying "Deadly to humans, maybe", then sticking it in front of the Slitheen's collar, it bought me enough time to get a gun out of the holster in front of me and put it in my jacket.

Both of us then immediately legged it out of the room through a door in the back.

Running down a corridor to find armed guards standing in a line, the Doctor yelled out to them "Oi, you want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street, come on!"

Clapping his hands, we all ran back that way with the guards right behind us.

We then got back into the room, only to find that both Slitheen had got the disguise back on the second one, as if nothing had happened.

"Where've you been? I called for help, I sounded the alarm. There was this lightning, a sort of electricity and they all collapsed."

One of the guards checked the bodies and said "I think they're all dead."

"That's what I'm saying" the "Prime Minister" told him. "They did it! Those two right there!"

"I think you'll find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise" the Doctor argued.

Realising how stupid that sounded, I asked "That's not gonna work, is it?"

"No" one of the guards replied.

"Fair enough" I said, before me and the Doctor looked at each other and ran back out the door, only to have the guards chasing after us.

They managed to corner us in a hallway, and the "general" said "Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorise you to execute these men!"

As the men cocked their weapons, I said "Yeah, funny thing about that. If I were you lot, and about to execute one, or a few people, by backing them up against the wall, word of advice..."

"Don't stand them against the lift" the Doctor finished as it dinged behind us, and we quickly backed into it, with him sonicing it to close the door even faster.

Going up, I tried to catch my breath, while the Doctor concentrated on the buttons.

It stopped a floor above, and when it opened, there was another Slitheen right in front of us, chasing Rose and Harriet Jones.

"Hello" the Doctor told it, as it growled, before he closed the doors again.

Coming up to the highest floor, he got out of the lift first while I pulled the gun out of my jacket and switched the magazines to the armour-piercing rounds quickly, holding it out ready for the threat.

Finding the staircase, we went swiftly progressed down them until we heard the voices of the Slitheen that we had encountered before.

Hiding behind both sides of the door frame, we could only watch as they approached and luckily passed us, overhearing something about their "final phase of the plan."

Waiting until they had gone, the Doctor grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and carried it with him.

Bursting the door open to where Rose and Harriet were, he rushed in and sprayed the Slitheen all with the foam, while I got ready to shoot it as he yelled "With me, now!"

I saw Rose cover one of them in a curtain before running out and back to us.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked Harriet, as she joined us.

"Harriet Jones. MP for Flydale North" she replied, scared.

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

As all 3 of them ran out the door with the Doctor spraying one last time before dropping the extinguisher, I fired a few holes into it, filling the room with smoke before closing the door behind me.

"We need to get to the Cabinet Rooms!" the Doctor yelled.

"The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens" Harriet said.

"Harriet Jones, I think I like you" he told her.

"I think I like you too."

Realising that the Slitheen were still behind us, I pointed my gun backwards and blind-fired, hoping that at least one would hit them.

I heard one of them yell out, but it was probably because of the muzzle flashes and not the bullets whizzing past them.

Either way, they were still approaching fast until the Doctor managed to open up a door with the sonic screwdriver and we entered it, to find ourselves in one of the Cabinet rooms.

Noticing the Slitheen approaching fast, he picked up a decanter of alcohol and held the sonic against it, while I pointed my gun at them, bullets aplenty still to go.

"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Woof, we all go up. So back off."

"Plus, I'm curious to see if armour-piercing bullets work well against you lot" I said. "You really don't want to make both of us worse than we are now."

As the Slitheen did, the Doctor looked at me and I lowered my gun a tiny amount, as he said "Right, then. Question time. Who are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens" Harriet replied.

"Yeah, we got that already" I told her before asking them "Alright. Second question. What's the plan?"

Picking up from me, the Doctor said "You've got a spaceship hidden away in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for? Invasion?"

"Why would we invade this godforsaken rock?" one of them asked.

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here" I said. "What for? Power? Money?"

"Slitheen? Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen at your service" the PM one spoke.

"Well, aren't _you_ special?" I asked sarcastically. "What is this, a family gathering?"

"A family _business_."

"Then you're out to make a profit" the Doctor realised. "How can you do that on a godforsaken rock?"

"Uh, excuse me. Your device will do what, exactly? Triplicate the flammability?" the general one asked the Doctor.

"Is that what I said?" he asked, backing away.

"You're making it up."

"Oh, well. Nice try" The Doctor said, realising his bluff had been called. "Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it" passing it back to her.

"You pass it to the left first" she told him.

"Sorry" he replied, now passing it back to Rose.

"Thanks."

"Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter" the Slitheen said as they held up their claws.

"Watch it" I replied, aiming at them. "His may have been a bluff, but I can still kneecap you with this. Just give me a reason to do it and I will."

"Go ahead. See what happens. The guards will be up here before you know it" they teased.

"Fat chance" I smirked. "Knowing you lot, you told them to remain on the ground floor and leave the upper floors under quarantine. Am I right?"

"H-How did you know?" they asked.

"Call it outsider knowledge" I answered. "That, and you were _really_ loud when you gave the orders to that officer downstairs. I could hear you through the lift."

Amazingly, they still came at us, and I fired a few shots at their knees, which turned out to do nothing against their thick skin, only grazing them.

"Ah. Well, at least I tried" I said, nervously lowering the gun before putting it away.

"Shouldn't we run?" Rose asked as the Slitheen kept getting closer.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street" the Doctor said, stopping them suddenly. "2000 years ago, this was marshland. 1730, it was occupied by a man named Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are the about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson" he said, lifting up a hidden switch and turning it on.

Within seconds, steel plates came down and interlocked with each other, sealing us inside.

"Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

"So how do we get out?" Rose asked.

Looking around and knowing he was trapped, the Doctor simply said "Ah."

Finding the body of the aide from before, the Doctor and I dragged him into a cupboard.

"What was his name?" I asked Harriet.

"Who?"

"The secretary, or whatever he was called" the Doctor replied.

"I don't know. I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name" she said.

Looking down at him, we both said "Sorry."

Coming out of there, the Doctor asked "What have we got? Any terminals, anything?"

"Nope, this place is antique" Rose answered. "What I don't get is that when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?"

"Because he was too small to fit into" I replied. "Like a pair of jeans that are too skinny."

"They needed to fit inside big humans" the Doctor continued.

"But the Slitheen are about eight feet. How do they fit inside them?"

"That's the device around their necks, compression field, literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange."

Going over to Harriet, I said "There has to be something we can do. Is there anything in the Protocols?"

"The Protocols are redundant" she replied. "They list the people who could help and they're all dead downstairs."

"There aren't any defence codes that could be active?" Rose asked. "Couldn't we launch a nuclear bomb at them?"

"You're a very violent young woman" Harriet told her.

"Ok, I'm all for sorting this out too" I said to Rose, "But going Doctor Strangelove on it is the worst thing that can work."

"Well there's nothing like that in here" Harriet said. "Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations."

"Say that again" the Doctor said, joining us.

"What, about the codes?"

"Anything, all of it" he said.

Telling us what she knew about the strike, Harriet said "Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN."

"Like that's ever stopped them" Rose said sarcastically.

"The codes have now been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN" Harriet finished.

"If we knew what the Slitheen wanted, this would be a whole lot easier" I said.

"Well, they're only one family, so it's not an invasion" the Doctor replied. "They don't want Slitheen World. They're out to make money. That means they want to use something, something here on Earth, some kind of asset."

"Gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet guessed.

"You're very good at this" the Doctor congratulated her.

"Thank you."

"Harriet Jones. Why do I know that name?" he asked himself.

We were interrupted by a bleep from Rose's phone.

"Oh, that's me" she said.

"But we're cut off. How did you get a signal?" Harriet asked her.

"He did it. Super phone" pointing at the Doctor.

"Well, you must have contacts" she told the Doctor.

"Dead, downstairs" he replied.

"Not all of them" I said, remembering Jack. "I was so busy worrying about here, I forgot to call them. I can ask them for help."

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I was shocked to find out that it had been badly damaged in the chases both in the hospital, and the ones in Downing Street and now was nearly in pieces in my hand.

"Goddamnit!" I yelled, thumping the table with my free hand before putting what remained of my phone back in my pocket. "So much for that idea. What about you, Rose?" I asked, calming down.

"It's Mickey" she replied.

"Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we don't need his help" the Doctor told her.

"He may not be so stupid after all" Rose said, holding up a picture that he had taken and sent to her.

Taking the phone out of Rose's hand, the Doctor said "Mickey the idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but I need you."

As the Doctor told him to log onto the UNIT website, he connected the phone to the speakers.

"Say again."

"It's asking for the password."

"Buffalo" the Doctor replied. "Two Fs, one L."

"What's that website?" Jackie's voice asked.

"All the secrets known to mankind. See, they've known about aliens for years. They just kept us in the dark."

"Worry about conspiracies later" I said."If it comes up asking you to enter the password in again, just keep repeating it, over and over."

"You don't want to know" I answered the Doctor's non-verbal question.

"Big Ben. Why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?" the Doctor asked us.

"You said to gather the experts, to kill them" Harriet answered.

"That lot would have gathered for a weather balloon" the Doctor said, shooting that idea down. "You don't need to crash-land it in the middle of London."

"The Slitheen are hiding, but then they go and put the planet on red alert. Why would they do that?" Rose asked.

"A diversion" I replied, realising. "You give the whole world a spectacle to watch, and then sneak in under the radar in the midst of all the panic. One great, big magic trick.

It's _brilliant_! Oh come on" I said, to the Doctor's concerned face, "You can't deny there's a _little_ bit of respect for them despite what they've done."

We then heard Jackie's voice coming through saying "Oi, listen to those two."

"At least we're trying" Rose replied.

"Well, I've got a question, if you don't mind" Jackie continued. "Since that man walked into our lives, I've been attacked in the streets, I've had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter disappears off the face of the Earth."

"I told you what happened" Rose said, trying to calm her down.

"I'm talking to _him_! 'Cause I've seen this life of yours, Doctor, and maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me, just answer me this, is my daughter safe?"

"I'm fine" Rose protested.

But Jackie, still not satisfied, again asked "Is she safe? Will she always be safe, can you promise me that? Well, what's the answer?"

Knowing the answer but not saying anything, all 4 of us stood silently looking at each other until the silence was broken by Mickey taking the phone from her and saying "We're in."

Running to the other side of the table, the Doctor told him "Now, then. On the left, at the top, there's a tab, an icon, little concentric circles, click on that."

"What is it?" Mickey asked once he'd done that.

"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal. Now, hush, let me work out what it's saying" the Doctor replied.

Listening to the garbled sound, he said "It's a message."

"So, what does it say?" Rose and I asked him.

"Don't know, it on a loop, keeps repeating."

Less than 3 seconds later, there was a buzzing sound from Mickey's side, and the Doctor said "Hush."

"That's not me" Mickey replied, before turning to Jackie and saying "Go and see who that is."

"It's 3'o'clock in the morning" she told him.

"Well, go and tell _them_ that" he said.

Realising what it was before she did it, I yelled "Mickey, tell her to use the peep-hole! Right now!"

"Why?" everyone asked.

"Knowing the luck of everyone here, it's probably that Slitheen from earlier" I answered with fear.

Mickey called out to Jackie, but by the time he did, she had already opened the door and ran back inside screaming.

"It's him, it's that thing. It's the Slikeen!" she wailed.

"They found us" Mickey said to the 4 of us.

"Mickey, I _need_ that signal" the Doctor told him.

"Never mind the signal. Get out! Mum, just get out! Get out!" Rose yelled to Jackie.

"We can't, it's by the front door" Mickey replied.

"Oh, my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us."

"There has to be _some way_ of stopping them!" Harriet yelled to the Doctor and me. "You're supposed to be the experts, think of something!"

"I'm trying!" he said.

"Ok, we need to find their weakness, so what can we use to find their planet of origin?" I asked, quickly.

"Judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to 5000 planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information?" the Doctor asked.

"They're green" I replied.

"Narrows it down."

Good sense of smell" Rose put in.

"Narrows it down."

"They can smell adrenaline" Harriet said.

"Narrows it down."

"The pig technology" again, going back to me.

"Narrows it down."

"Spaceship in the Thames. You said "slipstream engine"" Rose again.

"Narrows it down."

"They hunt like it's a ritual" Rose continued.

"Narrows it down."

"Hold on" Harriet said, realising. "If you notice, when they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell, like a fart, if you'll pardon the word. It's something else. What is it? It's more like, umm…."

"Bad breath!" Rose and I said.

" _Calcium decay_!" Now, _that_ narrows it down" the Doctor said, happily. "Calcium phosphate. Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else?"

"The hyphenated surnames!" I yelled out, knowing we had missed it.

"Thank you, and that narrows it down to one planet. Raxacoricofallapatorious!"

"Great! We can write them a letter" Mickey said nervously.

"Mickey, go into the kitchen!" I told him.

"Calcium weakened by the compression field. Acetic acid! Vinegar!" the Doctor proclaimed.

"Just like Hannibal!" I said at the same time as Harriet.

" _Just like_ Hannibal!" the Doctor echoed. "Mickey, have you got any vinegar?"

"How should I know?"

"It's your kitchen!"

"Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf!" Rose told them.

"Oh, give it here. What do you need?" Jackie asked.

"Anything with vinegar!" I told her.

"Gherkins! Pickled onions! Pickled eggs!" Jackie yelled.

"You kiss this man?" I asked Rose, smiling.

We were then treated to the sound of the Slitheen farting one last time, before he exploded into mush, which I'm positively sure covered Mickey and Jackie.

"Hannibal?" Rose asked us, as we breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps, by dissolving boulders with vinegar" Harriet answered.

"Well, there you go, then" Rose smiled, as we all lifted up our glasses and took a drink.

A few minutes passed and then we heard Mickey saying "Listen to this", as held the phone up to his TV and the "PM" saying "Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads. And they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within 45 seconds."

The voice continued as we listened in silence. "Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first! The United Kingdom stands directly below the belly of the mothership.

I beg of the United Nations. Pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival, because, from this moment on, it is my solemn duty to inform you planet Earth is at war."

"It's bullshit" I said to Harriet's shocked ears. "There aren't any weapons. He's making it all up."

"There's no threat. He invented it" the Doctor finished.

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked.

"Well, they did last time" Rose answered.

"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle" the Doctor said, turning to me. "You were right about the diversion part, but now they want the whole world panicking, 'cause you lot, you get scared, you lash out."

"They release the defence codes" I said, giving the penultimate puzzle piece.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear" the Doctor finished, walking back over to the button.

"But why?" Harriet asked as the Doctor flipped the switch.

Opening the door to find 3 Slitheen on the other side, the Doctor said "You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space, 'cause there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked."

"And we sit through it, safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames" the woman replied. "Not crashed, just parked. Barely 2 minutes away."

"But you'll destroy the planet. This wonderful place. What for?" Harriet asked them.

"Profit" I answered. "Plain and simple. I'm guessing the signal that's beaming out is an advert. Come one, come all. Massive clearance. Everything must go!"

"Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chunks capable of powering every cut-price starliner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor" she told him. "People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."

"At the cost of 5 billion lives" he replied.

"Bargain."

"I give you a choice" he said. "Leave this planet, or I'll stop you."

All of the Slitheen then giggled, as she asked "What? You? Trapped in your box?"

"Yes. Me" came his simple reply as the door closed.

As we sat back down and waited, Jackie picked up the phone and said "Alright, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do."

"We could ferment the port, and make acetic acid" Harriet suggested.

"Mickey, any luck?" Rose asked him.

"I'm trying all the emergency numbers. They're all on voicemail" he replied.

"There has to be a way out" I told the Doctor.

"There _is_ a way out" he spoke out loud to all of us. "There's _always_ been a way out."

"Then why don't we use it?" I asked.

Knowing that Jackie was still on the phone, the Doctor said "Because I can't guarantee your daughter will be safe."

"Don't you dare!" she fired back. "Whatever it is, don't you dare!"

"That's the thing. If I don't dare, everyone dies."

"Do it" Rose said to him.

"You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?"

"Yeah."

"Please, Doctor" Jackie pleaded. "She's my daughter, she's just a kid."

"You think I don't know that? 'Cause this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart. It's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Rose asked.

Looking at her with sadness in his eyes, he replied "I could save the world, but lose you."

As they both stared at each other, Harriet said "Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine."

"And who the hell are you?" Jackie asked.

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only _elected_ representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people. And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it" she finished.

As all of us smiled at each other, I asked "Right, so. How do we get out?"

"We don't" the Doctor answered, opening the suitcase. "We stay here."

As he read through the documents, he said to Mickey "Use the "buffalo" password, it overrides everything."

"What are you doing?" we heard Jackie ask him.

"Hacking into the Royal Navy."

Giving it a few seconds, Mickey said "We're in. Here it is, _HMS Taurean_ , Trafalgar Class submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth."

"We need to select a missile" the Doctor told him.

"We can't go nuclear. We don't have the launch codes."

"We don't need it. All we need is an ordinary missile. What's the first category?"

"Sub harpoon, UGM-84A."

" _That's_ the one! Select!"

As Mickey did so, the Doctor gave one last piece of guidance.

"Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands. Fire."

We heard a few seconds of silence, then the mouse click and we all held our breath.

"These walls won't be strong enough to hold us" I said, pointing at them. "They were probably built for short range. Nothing this big."

"Alright, now I'm making the decision" Rose said, looking around. "I'm not gonna die. We're gonna ride this one out."

As we looked at her in disbelief, she said "It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe. Now, this cupboard's small, so it's strong. Come and help me. Come on!"

Both me and Harriet rushed over to help her lift everything that we could out of there, as I grinned, saying "Clever girl."

As we did so, Mickey kept us up to date with it.

"It's on radar! Counter defence 556!"

"Stop them intercepting it!" the Doctor yelled back.

"Already on it!"

"Good boy!"

A few more seconds and then "556 neutralised."

We then heard the Doctor disconnect the phone from the speakers and he came over and helped us.

"Not long to go now" I said, as we got the last of the supplies out.

Huddling up together in the cupboard, Harriet said "Well, nice knowing you three."

"Likewise" I said, as we all held hands and waited for it.

5 seconds later, there was a massive explosion as the whole of number 10 was hit by the missile.

The cupboard swayed and shook as we tried to hold on for dear life.

It soon tumbled through the fire and landed diagonally on the rubble.

Pushing the now defunct door off, Harriet was first out and happily said "Made in Britain!"

As an officer came to us and asked if we were alright, she took charge, stating her name again.

"I want you to contact the UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down. Go on. Tell the news!" she gestured to him.

"Yes, ma'am" he said, hurrying away as the three of us appeared from behind her.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out" Harriet said, turning to us, before realising "Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!"

"Oh, yes, we do" I told her. "The way you took charge in there makes you more than capable for the job. Besides, I don't think the candidate list is big at this point" I chuckled.

"Me! I'm only a backbencher" she protested, laughing.

"And? We'd still vote for you" Rose replied, smiling.

"Now don't be silly. Look, I'd better go and see if I can help."

Slowly but surely, we progressed through the wreckage following Harriet, who yelled "We're safe. The Earth is safe!"

"I thought I knew the name" the Doctor told us as we got past the last bit of it. "Harriet Jones. Future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms. The architect of Britain's Golden Age."

"You sure about that?" I asked as he turned around. "I'm just saying. Time's not set in stone a lot. For all we know, it could be something else."

"At this point, I'm happy" Rose replied as we walked away back to her flat while Harriet calmed the media.

The Doctor and I made our way back to the Tardis while Rose went to find her mum.

"See you soon" we called out to her, before opening the doors and walking inside.

As the Doctor started the Tardis up, I said "Home, sweet second home" happily, until I realised my phone was beyond repair at this point.

Sighing, I asked him "You think you can either drop me off at a shop, or help get me a new phone?", fishing it out from my pocket and holding it up. "Because I'm not sure it covers "running away from aliens" in its damage protection."

"Sure" the Doctor replied. "We've got a few hours to work with in the meantime, and then we can leave. Hold on, though. I need to fill Rose in on this."

And he went to the Tardis' own phone, calling her.

When she picked up, he said "Right, we'll be a couple of hours, and then we can go."

I'm guessing she asked him if she had a phone, because he answered her question with another one, asking "You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?"

Smiling, he continued, saying "Like I said, couple of hours. I've just got to send out this dispersal. There you go" as he hit a button on the keyboard. "That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."

Still hearing his side of the call, his next point was probably referring to Jackie, because he said "Good. Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer."

Silence, and then "I don't do that."

More silence followed by "Tough. I've got better things to do."

Again with his side, he said "Well, I don't", after which came "Well, she's not mine."

Trying to turn Rose to his side, the Doctor continued, saying "Well, you can stay there if you want. But right now, there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Fires are burning, 10 million miles wide. I could fly the Tardis right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice."

As he hung up, I laughed. "You're so full of it."

"What? I was telling the truth" he replied, eyebrows raised.

"Alright. Alright. I won't say anything" I told him, trying to get rid of my smile.

"You will still help me, though, right?" I asked, when it had disappeared.

"Yes" he said at last. "Ok. There's a sort of "Lost and found" room where I keep a few souvenirs. Pretty sure there are phones in there."

"Great, so how do I get there?"

"You go down the corridor, third left, second right, 1st door on the left. You can't miss it."

"You're serious" I said, disbelievingly.

"Perfectly. Now, go on. Hop to it."

As I followed his instructions and got to where the room was, I opened the door and turned the light switch on.

Gasping, I looked around at what he had lying around.

It was a long room, which I guessed was 10 feet in width by 30 feet in length and 8 feet in height, filled with shelves lined with really nostalgic items of the Doctor's life.

On one of them, I saw old models of his sonic screwdriver, including the version used by the last regeneration.

I reached out to touch it, like a wand from Harry Potter choosing the wizard, but I withdrew halfway, remembering the history that the Doctor had wanted to forget. If I took it now, it would only make things worse.

Below that shelf, there were items that he kept as memorials to those companions past.

One of Jo's bracelets joined a hairband of Nyssa's, a watch from Harry, and a canister of Ace's Nitro 9.

What really drew my attention however, was an item that made me nearly tear up at the sight and what it meant.

A scarf that looked like it belonged to Susan and her earlier adventures with it.

"How long has he kept this here?" I said to myself, keeping my hands down.

Remembering what I had originally came here for, I walked past the remaining shelves that were still full of organised clutter and got to the end of the room, where a steel box was present.

Opening it, I was amazed to find that it was full of different phone parts. A lot of them were different shapes and sizes, but with enough time and effort, - say a few hours - I could combine them into a new one.

Closing the box and dragging it out of the room before turning the lights out and closing the door, I brought it back to my bedroom, one miniscule step at a time.

Placing it beside my desk, I began to work on the construction of my new phone, but not before I looked for my iPod and viewed the playlist on it to get the right song playing.

Smiling, I went for one of my number one favourites.

"Thank you, Borderlands" I murmured, as the beginning of "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" played out in my earphones while I set to work.

By the time I was finished, it was 8o'clock and I dusted off the final version.

In my hands, I held a mish-mash of a majority of what I could find in the box but what I was still pleased with.

A brown border around a 5cm² screen, with a navy blue button casing and a green back cover with enough room to keep the battery safe while also keeping the charger port the same as my original phone.

To test it out, I sent Jack a message saying "Don't worry. We're all safe. Using new phone because old one got destroyed in chase with Slitheen. They set it all up. Call me when you get this."

30 seconds later, he did.

"Slitheen? Are you serious? I thought we dealt with them already" were the first words he said when I picked up.

"Yeah. I know, right? But the one we hunt with you hasn't happened yet" I replied. "Converging timelines, remember?"

"Yeah. I remember, alright. Ok, tell me everything from the start" he said as I made sure the Doctor wasn't listening before speaking.

"Well, you were right" I told him. "It _was_ a con. They disguised themselves as politicians and the like in order to get into Downing Street and trigger World War 3 by launching nukes at the Earth and turning it into slag, which they could sell on the alien black market. As you probably guessed and saw on the news, it didn't end up being in their favour."

"Speaking of which, did you get my gifts?"

"Yes, and they freaked me out for a few seconds" I answered, trying not to raise my voice.

"I honestly thought I'd get put behind bars for what I did with you, until they gave me the card and your message. But how did _you_ know?"

"The computers here went haywire when the Doctor was mentioned by name, and I knew that the government would quickly be upon you lot, so I had to act fast. Luckily, I met some guys at number 10 from before you showed up here the first time and they pulled a few strings to let you into the meeting."

"People still died in there, Jack. They didn't believe me, and they ended up paying for it."

"You can't blame yourself for this, Marty. Not everyone is gonna believe the boy who cried wolf." He paused, and then asked me "Tell me about the spaceship? Did it have a pilot?"

"It did, alright, and it turned out to be a pig. A pig that they messed about with and shoved in without any mercy for it. It ended up in the morgue of the hospital but got out and sadly, didn't make it. I grabbed it while it was running away, but it broke free and one of the soldiers there shot it in fear, thinking it was going to attack him."

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Thinking quickly, I asked Jack "You remember I told you about that possible descendant of Gwyneth, and how she'd be a valuable member of the team?"

"Yes, and I told you I'd look out for her if you helped me with a job. Which was a year ago."

"Not _my_ fault!" I replied. "Either _he_ got the time and date wrong, or the Tardis wanted us to be here now. Anyway, I found a doctor in that same hospital who was treating the pig. Toshiko Sato, her name was. She could be another good member to add to the team."

"Marty, what did I say about crying wolf?"

"I'm not crying wolf _now_! This time, I swear to God. If I help you out for a job soon, will you _please_ search for both of them and make sure they're protected?"

"Do you promise, this time?"

" _YES_!" I almost screamed at him.

"Calm down. Ok. You're nearly done, I take it?"

"Yes, I'm nearly done" I answered, trying to keep calm. "After all of us escaped from the Slitheen, we managed to hold out in the Cabinet Room and talk to Mickey about how to deal with them."

"Mickey? Isn't he Rose's boyfriend?"

"He is. I would have called you, but my phone was badly broken and we had to rely on him. He got onto the UNIT website, and got us the signal the Slitheen broadcast out. Unfortunately, one of them tracked him and Rose's mum down but we figured out their weakness just in time so they could kill it.

Then we had to clear out the cupboard in the room so that we could be safe when the missile was launched by Mickey. When it arrived, Number 10 went boom and we're still here" I finished.

"Wow. Reminds me of my younger days" Jack replied, laughing.

"Before or after the immortality?" I asked. "I mean, with you, it's hard to tell."

"Little bit of both. Now, you gonna be alright until you can do the job?"

"I'll try" I replied. "Until next time, buddy."

"Talk to you then. Goodnight."

Hanging up, I walked back to the console to find out that the Doctor was no longer there. Instead, he was hanging out the door, telling the kid who'd painted over the Tardis not to do it again before he ran off with his bucket.

"You find him, then?" I asked, walking out of the Tardis to find Mickey sitting on top of a bin reading a newspaper.

"It wasn't that hard" the Doctor answered. "You just have to ask the right people and they'll tell you what you want to know. Like his mum, for instance."

"Well, she'll need some new paint" I replied, looking at that particular side. "You need any help with it?"

"Thanks, but I think I'm good."

Then, we turned our attention to Mickey, who said "I just went down the shop. And I was thinking, you know, the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is" he continued, showing us the front page of the newspaper, whose article read "Alien Hoax?", followed by a grainy picture of the Slitheen spaceship as it came crashing down.

"How can they do that? They saw it!" he fumed.

Telling him straight, the Doctor replied "You're just not ready. You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you right in the face, "Nope, can't see it!" There's a scientific explanation for that. You're thick."

"We're just idiots" Mickey told the pair of us.

"Well, not all of us" I said, as we laughed.

"Yeah?"

Reaching into his pocket, the Doctor pulled out a computer disk and handed it to him, saying "Present for you, Mickey. That's a virus. Put it online, it'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist."

"What do you wanna do that for?" Mickey asked.

"Because you're right" I answered. "He _is_ dangerous. He doesn't need any more people following him."

"How can you say that, and still be on board with travelling with Rose?" Mickey asked, gesturing to Rose and Jackie coming out of the front door.

"You could look after her" I told him. "Come with us."

"I can't. This life of yours… it's just too much. I couldn't do it." Leaning in, he whispered "Don't tell her I said that."

"Mum's the word" I replied, smiling as Rose's literal one made her way towards us with Rose by her side.

While Mickey put the disk in his jacket, the Doctor and I walked back to the Tardis and watched as Rose took of her massive camping bag.

"Got enough stuff?" he asked

"The first time I stepped in there, it was spur-of-the-moment" she answered as she threw it into his arms. "Now I'm signing up. You two are stuck with me."

Laughing, she walked over to Mickey, and said "Come with us. There's plenty of room."

Covering for him, I replied "No chance. He's a liability. We're not having him on board."

"We'd be dead if it wasn't for him."

"I have the final decision here, and I'm saying "no" to having him here with us" the Doctor told her.

Turning back to Mickey, she said "Sorry."

As he pulled her in for a kiss, Mickey asked her "Good luck, yeah?"

Jackie then asked both of us "You still can't promise me. What if she gets lost? What if something happens to both of you, and she's left all alone, standing on some moon a million light years away? How long do I wait then?"

"Mum, you're forgetting. It's a time machine" Rose comforted her. "I could go travelling around suns and planets, and all the way out to the edge of the universe, and by the time I get back, 10 seconds would have passed. Just 10 seconds. So stop worrying. I'll see you in 10 seconds time, yeah?"

While Rose gave Jackie a hug, both the Doctor and I walked back into the Tardis, and waited for her to join us.

The second she closed the door, the Doctor started the Tardis up and we left Earth in this time behind, ready to go forward or backwards to the next place in time and space...

 **A/N**

 **If you liked this story, remember to follow, favourite and review for more.**

 **Next chapter, we find ourselves in a museum, and it seems like not all of the exhibits are dead and caged...**

 **However, it's not just the enemy that will have anger management problems...**

 **Until next time, take care!**


	9. One Bastard Down

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 9 - One Bastard Down...**

 **A/N - Hi again. Took a bit longer to do this chapter because of external influences, but it's here. In the last chapter, the Slitheen were blown up and Rose officially signed on as a companion. This chapter, we find ourselves in the not-too-distant future, where a deadly evil has drawn the Tardis to it. However, now it's not just one enemy that it has to deal with...**

 **This chapter is rated T for language. I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.**

"I'm away to get some sleep" I said, laughing. "After the couple of days that we've had, I think rest is in order. Tell me when we've landed somewhere new."

"Al-righty, then. Will do" the Doctor replied as I walked back to my bedroom.

Sitting down at my desk again, I pulled the pistol that I had used against the Slitheen and looked at it carefully.

"You have _no_ idea how much you're gonna help me out now" I said to it, as I took out the ammo clip from it and counted the amount of bullets left.

Only 4 were still in it from its original capacity of 12.

Knowing what we were facing next, I replaced the old clip with a new one that held bastic bullets and then brought out the rest of that specific type of ammo, lining the clips up like dominoes.

12 clips of 12 bullets. 144 shots. 144 chances. Hopefully, I'd only need 2 or 3 to take one down. An army on the other hand… well, that would take a miracle.

Trying not to worry about that now, I took out all of the armour-piercing clips from my pockets and swapped them with the new type.

Lying back on my bed, the gun made its way under my pillow, where we both rested until I was woken up by the Tardis landing again.

Knowing it was time, I took a deep breath, got up, and put the gun in the back of my belt, covering it up to not make it as noticeable.

The Tardis console was empty, as the Doctor and Rose were just now exiting and were looking around.

As I caught up to them, I asked "What's the problem, then?"

"A signal" the Doctor answered. "It's drew the Tardis off course."

"Where are we?" Rose asked as I too checked everything out.

"Earth. Utah. North America. About half a mile underground."

"And _when_ are we?" I asked, looking at the cases.

"2012."

"God, that's so close" Rose replied. "I should be 26!"

"Yeah? Try not being born for a few more years" I told her, pointing to myself. "I mean, I'm not the best at history, but I know a little bit of events here, even if it took me a while to find out."

Finding a switch on the wall, the Doctor turned it on to find the place we were in illuminated and showed a lot more glass cases lining both sides. None of us had any clue how far it reached, but we were still amazed at how many things were on display.

"Jesus Christ" I said, followed by Rose, who said "Blimey."

"It's like a great big museum" we both spoke at the same time.

"An alien museum" the Doctor replied. "Someone's got a hobby."

"They must have spent a fortune on this" he continued, as we walked by them to see what they were.

"Chunks of meteorite. Moondust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship" he pointed out at a few.

"That's a bit of Slitheen" Rose exclaimed, as we passed a stuffed arm of it. "That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed."

"Oh, look at you" I said sadly, noticing the Cyberman head from the 70s or 80s at best as the Doctor too looked on in almost mourning.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"An old friend of mine" the Doctor replied, before correcting himself. "Well, enemy."

"The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit" I said, almost touching it. "You might be getting old" referencing the Doctor.

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Rose asked.

"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out. Calling for help" the Doctor replied, as his fingers barely touched the glass.

A split second later, alarms sounded out and about 20 armed guards rushed in with assault rifles, all in combat positions, ready to fire.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A" Rose said, before we were led away into an office by a woman, to find a rich American tycoon-type man talking to a younger man about artefacts that he had brought in, whose ego was so big, he had a painting of himself place on the wall behind his chair.

"Well, you see the small tubes on the side? Must be to channel something, I think maybe fuel" the younger man said, as the older one held a piece of metal in his hand like a lazy paper aeroplane getting ready to be fired.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that" the Doctor said, before being told by the woman to "Shut it".

"Really, though. That's wrong" he continued, as he now held the tycoon's attention.

"Is it dangerous?" the younger man asked.

"No, it just looks silly" the Doctor replied, as he leaned forward to examine it.

The guards mistook this as a threat, and cocked their guns instantly until they were non-verbally told to stand down.

Registering the gesture, the Doctor smiled as the man stood up and gave him the artefact, then held it in his hand and gently rubbed his fingers over it.

"You just need to be..." he said, as a humming sound was heard from his stroking. "Delicate" he finished, as the three of us as well as the tycoon were the only ones invested in it.

"It's a musical instrument" he said, as the Doctor kept petting it.

"And it's a long way from home" the Doctor replied, before it was snatched out of his hands and back to the "owner", who said "Here, let me" as he took it.

"I did say delicate" the Doctor told him, as the other man run his fingers over it. "Reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision."

Figuring it out, the man made the metal produce its original humming, to which the Doctor said "Very good. Quite the expert."

"As are you" came the reply, before he threw the artefact away and asked "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"

"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extraterrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumble in by mistake."

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah" the Doctor replied, chuckling.

"Question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down, with your little cat-burglar accomplices. Quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty" he said, approaching Rose.

"She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her "she"" Rose said, as I smiled and tried not to laugh.

"She's English, too!" the man replied, before turning to the younger one. "Hey, Little Lord Fauntleroy, got you a girlfriend."

"This is Mr Henry Van Statten" he told us.

"And who's he when he's at home?" I asked. "Yes, I'm Irish" I said as Van Statten heard my voice. "Deal with it." Before he could say anything about it, I said "I'm not lucky by any means, but I still make peace with it."

"Mr Van Statten owns the Internet" the same man replied.

"Bullshit" I laughed. "No-one owns the Internet."

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that, right kids?" Van Statten asked, smiling.

"So, you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum" the Doctor told him. "Anything you don't understand, you lock up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten asked.

"He doesn't need to make good claims. We _know_ how good he is" I replied, butting in.

"And yet, I captured you, right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?"

"You tell us" the Doctor answered.

"The Cage contains my one living specimen."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Like you don't know."

"Well, _that's_ specific" I said.

"Show us" the Doctor said impatiently.

"You wanna see it?" Van Statten asked.

Breaking us up, Rose said "Blimey. You can smell the testosterone."

"Goddard! Inform the Cage we're heading down" came Van Statten's order, before he said "You, English, look after the girl. Go and canoodle, or spoon, or whatever you British do."

Turning to both the Doctor and myself, he said "And you, Doctor with no name, and Mr Leprechaun, come and see my pet."

Following him to a lift, the Doctor, myself, Van Statten, Goddard and 3 armed guards went silently down in it, all the way to the bottom where we were escorted out by Van Statten who led us to a massive steel door that was being exited by a man wearing an orange hazard suit.

"We've tried everything" Van Statten told us as he punched a code into a nearby keypad. "The creature has shielded itself, but there's definite signs of life inside."

"Inside? Inside what?" the Doctor asked as the man in the orange suit approached Van Statten.

"Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down, the Metaltron is resting?"

"Metaltron?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it?" Van Statten replied. "Although I'd much prefer to find out its real name."

"Let me guess. No-one's been able to make it talk?" I asked.

"Not without screaming" the hazard guy answered, handing me a pair of gloves. "You'd better put these on. The last guy to touch it… burst into flames."

"I won't touch it, then" the Doctor replied, making some of us smirk as I put them on.

"Go ahead, you two. Impress me" Van Statten told us as we stepped forward into the Cage.

Before the door closed and we were covered in darkness, I heard Van Statten say "Don't open that door until we get a result."

With a slow thud, the door sealed us in, giving us enough time to see the tools that were present and that had been used to torture it.

Turning around to see the singular blue glow, he broke the silence as I physically prepared myself for it, reaching slowly behind my back for the gun.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mr Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor."

"Doc-tor?" it asked as its ears lit up.

"Impossible" he said with fear.

" **THE** Doc-tor?" it asked as the lights turned on, and we were shown to be in the presence of one rusty, badly damaged and obviously _angry_ Dalek.

"EXTERMINATE!" it yelled as the Doctor banged on the door screaming "Let us out!" and I pulled out my gun fast and aimed it at the Dalek. "EXTERMINATE!"

"YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! YOU MUST BE DESTROYED!" it yelled as its gun feebly moved about.

Laughing, we said "It's not working" together.

"Fantastic!" the Doctor proclaimed. " _FANTASTIC!_ "

"Powerless" I said, smiling as I still trained my gun on it. "Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"

"KEEP BACK!" it yelled, as the chains held it.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do to us?" I asked it.

"If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek?" the Doctor asked, circling it as the eye-stalk followed him. "What's the point of you?" Finishing, he said "You're _nothing!_ "

"What the hell are you here for?" I asked, trying to control my rage.

" **I am waiting for orders**."

"What does that mean?"

" **I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders**."

"Well, you're never gonna get any. Not ever" the Doctor told it.

" **I _DEMAND_ ORDERS**!"

"They're never gonna come. Your race is _dead._ You all burnt. All of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race, wiped out, in one second."

" **YOU _LIE_**!"

"I watched it happen. I _made_ it happen!"

" **YOU _DESTROYED_ US**?"

Scared, the Doctor walked away, as I looked on in sadness.

"I had no choice."

" **And what of the Time Lords**?"

"Dead" he replied. "They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

" **And the coward survived**."

Stepping in, I turned to it and said "We caught your little signal, by the way. "Help me. Poor little thing." But there's no-one else coming 'cause there's no-one else left."

" **I am alone in the universe** " the Dalek said, lowering its eye-stalk.

"Yep" we both replied.

" **So are you. We are the same**."

"We're not the same! I'm not..." the Doctor yelled at it.

"Actually, it's right" I said, even myself not believing what I was saying. "We _are_ the same. All 3 of us in this room are cowards, one way or another." Looking the Dalek straight in the eye, I said "And you know why _I'm_ a coward, you mechanised shit?

Because of you lot. Your kind invaded my Earth, terrorised my planet and killed everyone I knew and cared about, before I got sent back to this timeline and found him.

So, yes, that makes me one, but at least I know I have the satisfaction of starting with one Dalek that's powerless, and not an army of you bastards."

I finished my rage by saying "When Shakespeare wrote "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", he _really_ underestimated how powerful that can be. I mean, when 3 of _this_ calibre of beings are together in one room, there's only one way it can end."

Looking at him in recognition, the Doctor understood and said "I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. _Exterminate_ " he said, smiling as he jumped over to a switch and yanked it down, giving the Dalek a lot of electric shock while it screamed "HAVE PITY!"

"Why should we?" I asked it, with sadistic glee. " _You_ never did."

Before the guards could stop me I fired a few bullets into the Dalek which made its pain even worse, then put the gun back in my belt.

 _Then_ they dragged both of us out of the room, with the two of us yelling "You've got to destroy it!" which fell on deaf ears.

As they took us back inside the lift, the Doctor said "The metal is just battle armour. The real Dalek creature is inside."

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked.

"A nightmare" I answered. "The Daleks are mutations who were genetically engineered. Every single emotion removed except hate."

"Genetically engineered? By whom?" Van Statten asked with a sense of oblivious curiosity.

"By a genius, Van Statten" the Doctor replied, referring to Davros. "By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him."

"Although you forgot to mention the fact that his own creations turned against him" I said. "He unintentionally made them hateful for anything except themselves, and that became his downfall. Hope I didn't scare you _too_ much" I told Van Statten, who was slowly turning pale.

Goddard, meanwhile gave us the history of the Dalek. "It's been on Earth for 50 years. Sold at private auction, moving from one collector to another. Why would it be a threat _now_?" she asked us.

"Because _I'm_ here" the Doctor answered. "How did it get to Earth? Does anybody know?"

Goddard answered that by saying "The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands, burned in its crater for 3 days, before anyone could get near it. And all that time, it was screaming. It must have gone insane."

"It must have fallen through time. The only survivor" the Doctor mused.

"Remind you of anyone?" I asked, referencing myself.

"You talked about a war?" Goddard asked us.

"The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

But you survived, too" Van Statten said, recovering a little.

"Not by choice."

"This means the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor. There's you. The only one of your kind in existence."

Realising what that meant, I tried to back away, but Van Statten said "No, no. _You're_ coming with us, too. You say you fell back in time from the future? Well, I want to know _exactly_ what happens in the future, and how I'm remembered. Plus" he continued as one of the guards fished my gun out from behind my back, "I want to know what kind of gun is capable of damaging the prize of my collection and how I can market it towards something greater. Don't think I didn't see you reach for it on the monitor."

The lift stopped at a floor, and the guards took us out, one in each arm, leading us to a pair of vertical racks with what looked like an X-ray machine in front of them and a set of cuffs set apart from one another as if to string the subject out on them.

We were stripped from the waist up, held in place and Van Statten said "Now, smile!" as he operated the machines and let loose a blast of energy that scanned both of us and gave us a shitload of pain.

"Mother _fucker_!" I yelled as the pain went through me.

"Language" he said, before looking at the scans of us. "Well, you _look_ human enough, but I'm cautious as to whether you might be a shape-shifter or not."

"Would a shape-shifter tell you to go fuck yourself?" I winced, trying to gain some kind of leverage.

"Again. Language. We're all adults here."

"I'm sorry. I'll stop swearing once we're out of the alien Guantánamo" I replied, sarcastically, which prompted another burst of energy to hit me and silence me for a while.

After that, Van Statten turned his attention to the Doctor where he was more interested in his biology.

"Two hearts! A binary vascular system" he proclaimed. "Oh, I am _so_ gonna patent this."

"So _that's_ your secret" the Doctor replied. "You don't just collect this stuff. You scavenge it."

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly."

Recovering a little, I woozily said "Well, I'll be sure to tell the right mind that when we meet them", which gained one of the guards to land a hit on my stomach and knocked the wind out of me.

Getting back on track, Van Statten continued. "Oh, the advancements I've made from alien junk. You have no idea. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year, my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory, of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?"

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" the Doctor asked him, breaking him out of his grandeur. "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

Too stupid to believe him, Van Statten replied, "Then I will be true to myself. And continue."

Pleading with him, the Doctor yelled "Listen to me! That thing downstairs is gonna kill every last one of us!"

" _Nothing_ can escape the Cage" Van Statten said, activating the machines on both of us, which still gave us pain, but now it actually helped me out.

"But it knows I'm here! It's woken up! It's gonna get out! Van Statten, I swear, no-one on this base is safe. No-one on this planet!

The only reply he got was Van Statten blasting us with another bit of energy, which went on for some time, until the silence was broken by a guard through the intercom, saying "Condition red. Condition red. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Knowing what it was at once, the Doctor and I both said "Release us if you want to live."

They did so at once, while we gathered up our possessions, minus one very important one of mine.

" _And_ the gun" I told him. "You want it in the hands of someone who knows all about Daleks and will last longer, or one who knows nothing about it, and will die in about 5 minutes?"

Reluctantly, they did give me it back and I put it back in my belt for safe keeping, while we rushed to the lift and back to Van Statten's office.

The second we got out of the lift, the Doctor rushed forward to find Rose on the other end of the monitors and told the guards "You've got to keep it in that cell."

Rose replied "Doctor, it's all my fault" before a guard interrupted her and said "I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out. The lock's got a billion combinations."

"The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat" the Doctor said bluntly.

"Rose, you need to get out of there, _now_ " I said, trying to keep her safe, before the door opened and the Dalek came out.

As the guards opened fire on it, to no obvious avail, Van Statten stupidly said "Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!"

Then the Dalek turned away from them and towards the screen, where it stared up at us for a few seconds, almost like Michael Myers admiring his kill, before it plunged the sucker into it and the feed went dead.

As we went over to a secondary computer and she looked over the resources, Goddard said "We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh my God. It's draining the entire power supply of Utah."

"It's downloading" I replied.

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down!" Goddard exclaimed.

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire Internet. It knows everything" the Doctor hauntingly replied.

Reading off the feed, Goddard said "The cameras in the vault have gone down."

"We've only got emergency power" the Doctor told Van Statten. "It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it _now_!"

Speaking into her earpiece, Goddard commanded "All guards to converge on the Metaltron cage immediately!"

20 seconds later, we heard the sounds of the bullets being woefully ineffective against the Dalek, and the latter, which was just tearing through them like target dummies.

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" Van Statten yelled.

"But, it's _killing_ them, you asshole!" I screamed in his face, trying not to cry.

"They're _dispensable_. That Dalek is unique" he told the 3 of us before talking into the microphone. "I don't want a scratch on its bodywork! Do you hear me?" he said, as the amount of gunshots grew less by the second. "Do you _hear_ me?" he repeated as the deafening silence prevailed.

Trying _immensely_ to control my complete rage towards Van Statten, we all looked at the screen while Goddard said "That's us", pointing to the top before panning down and pointing to where the Dalek had previously been "That's the Cage, and that's the Dalek" she finished, as a blinking white dot moved throughout the virtual complex.

"This museum of yours. Do you have any alien weapons?" the Doctor asked.

"Lots of them but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them" she replied.

"Well, this just keeps getting better and better" I muttered.

"We've gotta keep that thing alive" came the ridiculous suggestion from Van Statten's lips. "We could just seal the vault, trap it down there."

"Trapping it down there with Rose and the others?" I asked. "Yeah. _Great_ idea."

Turning back to Goddard, I asked "Are there any areas where it _has_ to go through to advance?"

"Yes, this big one is weapons testing" she replied.

"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone, everyone" I told her. That's probably the best chance we have of killing it."

As both the Doctor and I sat down at the computer screen, Van Statten asked "I thought you two were the great experts. If you two are so impressive, why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it _needs_. Everything needs _something._ "

"What's the nearest town?" I asked, not looking up.

"Salt Lake City."

"Population?" the Doctor asked, still the same as me.

"One million" came the reply.

"All dead" we said together, with myself saying "If that Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."

"But why would it do that?!" Van Statten asked, scared.

"Did you ever try and reason with a being made out of pure and literal hate?" I asked angrily, before continuing "It does it because it honestly believes it should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing, and _you,_ Van Statten, you've let it _loose_!"

As the soldiers and everyone else assembled in the weapons testing, the Doctor spoke through the mic, saying."The Dalek's surrounded with a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home. But it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through." He continued, saying "Aim for the head, the dome, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

As he signed off, and looked back up, I said "They're not going to listen. I just know."

He said nothing but continued to wait until Goddard said "We've got vision" and the screen lit up to show the Dalek in action against the soldiers.

"It wants us to see" the Doctor said, before I replied "I don't want to", and holding back the memories I'd had of them.

While the three of them watched the full thing, I shut my eyes and looked down, attempting to block the sound by covering my ears and counting like it was a thunderstorm, before it was over.

"13 elephant, 14 elephant, 15 elephant..." I slowly murmured as it progressed.

The noises stopped and we all did nothing in silence, until the Doctor leant down and asked me "Are you alright?" before I ended at "40 elephant."

"No" I replied, tears running down my face. "No, I'm not alright."

"I'm sorry" he said, giving me a hug and whispering "If I'd have known how badly you'd be affected by this, I would have asked you to stay in the Tardis."

"It's not your fault. None of us knew about how this would turn out" I told him, wiping them away. "Besides, while Rose _is_ still in danger, at least it's not both of us running down there. I'm not saying it's a good thing, and like you, I'd be happy with all 3 of us safe, but at least one of us with the Dalek is better than myself down with her, and it forcing you to choose between us."

"I know, Marty. I know" the Doctor said, before he got up and also tried to recover from the horror of what had just happened.

"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy" came the next insane idea from Van Statten's mediocre mind. "Maybe we should thing about abandoning this place."

"Except there's no power to the helipad, _sir_ " Goddard said as she turned her head in a deadpan manner. "We can't get _out_."

Remembering what Van Statten had said earlier, I asked "You said something about sealing the vault?" as I got up, tears nearly gone from my face.

"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war" he said, sitting down at his desk. "Steel bulkheads..."

"There's not enough power!" Goddard cut him off. "Those bulkheads are massive."

"You've got emergency power, you can re-route that to the bulkhead door" the Doctor told her.

"We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius."

"Good thing you've got _me_ , then" Van Statten replied.

"After everything that's happened, _now_ you want to help?" I asked him, fuming.

"I don't want to die. Simple as that. And no-one knows this software better than me" he said, as both Goddard and I saw the monitor turn back on.

"Guys?" I asked, pointing at it, where the Dalek stood still in the rain and said " **I SHALL SPEAK ONLY TO THE DOCTOR**."

Getting up, scared, the Doctor said "You're gonna get rusty."

" **I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Absorbing the biomass of a time-traveller regenerated me** " it replied.

"What's your next trick?" he asked.

" **I have been searching for the Daleks**."

"Yeah, I saw. Downloading the Internet. What did you find?"

" **I scanned your satellites and your radio telescopes**."

"And?"

" **Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?** " it asked like a child who'd lost its parents.

"You're just a soldier without commands."

" **Then I shall follow the Primary Order. The Dalek instinct to destroy. To conquer**!"

"What for? What's the point" the Doctor asked it, sadly. "Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for."

" **Then what should I do?** "

Thinking, the Doctor answered, "Alright. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself."

" **The Daleks _must_ survive!** "

"The Daleks have _failed._ Why don't you finish the job, and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth. Why don't you just _**die**_?" he screamed at it.

At least 4 seconds passed, before the Dalek spoke and sent shivers down both his spine and my own.

" **You would make a _good_ Dalek** " it said, before leaving us in shock and the monitor was turned off.

Coming out of his trance, the Doctor simply said "Seal the vaults" before we set to work.

"We need to phone Rose" I said as the Doctor handed me the phone and worked with Van Statten on the computer.

"I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads" he said. "It's been _years_ since I've had to work this fast."

"Are you enjoying this?" the Doctor asked him, as I called Rose and put her on speaker.

Picking up, she said "This isn't the best time."

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Level 49."

"You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off at level 46" I said.

"Can't you stop them closing?" she asked.

" _We're_ the ones closing them. We can't wait, and we can't help you. Now, for God's sake, _run_!" I told her.

Finally, Van Statten said "We've got power to the bulkheads."

"The Dalek's right behind them" Goddard said, while Rose called out "We're nearly there, give us two seconds."

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power" Van Statten told him. "The whole system is fading. You've _got_ to close the bulkheads."

Looking at everyone, the Doctor just said "I'm sorry" to Rose, as he hit the enter key on the keyboard, and the bulkheads lowered.

10 seconds later, Van Statten said, "The vault is sealed."

"Rose, where are you? Rose, did you make it?" The Doctor asked, leaping from his chair.

She replied panting "Sorry. I was a bit slow. See you then, you two. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what?" she asked, crying. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

And with that, she hung up, with the last word being uttered coming from the Dalek, who screamed " **EXTERMINATE**!" before the phone went dead.

"It killed her" the Doctor said, sadly.

"I'm sorry" Van Statten replied.

" _You're_ sorry?" I asked him, not giving a shit at this point. "We said we'd protect her. She's only here because of us, and _you're_ sorry?"

"W could have killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped us." the Doctor continued.

"It was the _prize_ of my collection!" Van Statten retorted.

"Your _collection_?!" the Doctor thundered. "Was it worth it? Worth all of those men's deaths? Worth Rose?"

Still not finished, he said "Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into the stars to explore. To be part of something greater..."

"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!"

"You just want to drag the stars down and put them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get!" the Doctor finished, before realising. "And you took her down with you. She was 19 years old."

We were interrupted by the man, Adam who arrived in the lift, and who I held against the wall.

" _You_ were quick on your feet" I told him, "leaving Rose behind."

"At least I didn't seal the vault" he replied, before I lowered him.

Speaking of which, our attention was brought back to it by the Dalek who showed us the video of it beside Rose in front of the closed bulkhead.

" **Open the bulkhead, or Rose Tyler dies** " it said.

Gasping in joy, the Doctor exclaimed "You're alive!"

"Can't get rid of me" she replied.

"I thought you were dead."

" **OPEN THE BULKHEAD!** " the Dalek yelled.

"Don't do it" Rose protested.

Taunting us, the Dalek asked " **What use are emotions, if you will not save the woman you love**?"

Wordlessly, he went over to Van Statten, and said "I killed her once. I can't do it again" as he pressed the buttons and deactivated the bulkheads.

"What do we do now, you bleeding heart?" Van Statten asked him. "What the hell do we do?"

"Kill it when it gets here" I said at the same time as Adam.

"All the guns are useless, and the alien ones are in the vault" Goddard replied.

"Only the catalogued ones" Adam told her, which provoked a reaction from Van Statten.

"Plus, I have this" I said, lifting my gun out and making everyone flinch.. "Bastic bullets that can go right through its shields."

"Marty, that's too dangerous" the Doctor replied.

"You're saying _now_ is too dangerous?" I asked him. "Look, you and Adam go down to where he keeps them. I'll meet you there."

"Fine" the Doctor said, as he left with Adam, Which left me with Van Statten and Goddard.

"Well, what the hell are _you_ gonna do?" the former asked me. "It'll kill you as soon as it sees the gun in your hand."

"Which is why I'm not gonna _be_ here when it arrives" I replied, smiling. "Well, part of me will be here, it's just gonna be a part of you."

Turning to Goddard, I said "You might want to look away."

Nervously, she asked "Why?"

"Because of this" I answered, as I kicked Van Statten's left leg hard, which made him fall to the ground in agony. What made it worse for him was that I hit him so hard, I gave him a limp.

As he screamed, I said "You've had this coming for a _long_ time, dickhead. Ever since we first saw you. Besides, it's not like this is the _worst_ thing that's gonna happen to you. Help him up" I said to Goddard, who was now trying not to scream at watching this happen to him.

She did so, and Van Statten limped to the lift, still in pain, while I took my leave out the door both Adam and the Doctor had used, right before the lift arrived.

Meeting him on the stairs, I said "I see you found your gun", noticing the behemoth he was carrying.

"You're alive" he replied.

"Of course I am. I left about 20 seconds before the lift arrived" I told him. "Mind you, I _did_ leave the man of the house with a parting gift of sorts."

"What did you do?" the Doctor asked.

"I made him appreciate just how valuable his own human life is" I answered, "No matter how pitiful it may be."

I heard noise coming from the floor above.

"That's got to be Rose" I said. "We need to do this quietly. After you."

Leading the way, the Doctor walked out towards where a service door said "Exit."

As we went through it, we both readied our guns to find Rose in front of the Dalek that was now in the sunlight and had its case open.

"Get out of the way" the Doctor shouted, as we both pointed our weapons at it.

She turned to face us and I yelled "Rose, get out of the way, _now_!"

"No! 'Cause I won't let you do this."

"Rose, that thing killed hundreds of people!" I protested. "As someone who's watched this happen first hand multiple times, I _know_ what I'm talking about!"

"Well, it's not pointing its gun at me."

"We've _got_ to do this. We've _got_ to end it" the Doctor said, defiantly. "The Daleks destroyed our homes. Our planets. There's nothing left for us here."

"But look at it" Rose told us, and she moved to let us see what the real Dalek creature was doing.

"It's the sunlight" she explained. "That's all it wants."

"But it can't..." I said.

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, and it couldn't kill me" Rose replied. "It's changing."

Looking at our guns, she asked "And what about you two? What the hell are you two changing into?"

Reluctantly, I lowered my weapon silently, as the Doctor did the same, saying "I couldn't… I wasn't… Oh, Rose" he finished, "They're all dead."

" **Why do we survive**?" the Dalek asked us.

"I don't know" we both answered.

" **I am the last of the Daleks** " it said, in what sounded like a sad tone.

"You're not even that" the Doctor replied. "Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA" he said, as she turned around. "You're mutating."

" **Into what**?" the Dalek asked.

"Something new" I answered. "I'm sorry."

"Isn't that better?" Rose asked us.

"Not for a Dalek" I replied.

" **I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness** " the Dalek told us, before saying " **Rose. Give me orders. Order me to die.** "

As we stared in silence, she finally said "I can't do that."

" **This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you!** " it protested. " **Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey**!" came the hysterical yell.

"Do it" Rose nervously said.

" **Are you frightened, Rose Tyler**?"

"Yeah."

" **So am I. Exterminate** " it said for the last time as Rose ran back to us, before the casing was closed, it levitated above the ground, and the spheres that lined its casing surrounded it in an orb of electricity, resulting in an implosion as it ended itself.

All 3 of us stood there in silence, not saying anything until we got back downstairs to Van Statten's office where we took the lift back to the Tardis.

"Little piece of home. Better than nothing" the Doctor said, patting the side.

"Is that the end of it? The Time War?" Rose asked.

"I'm the only one left" he replied. "I win. How about that?"

"And you, Marty?" she asked.

"I don't know, yet. Right now, I'll take any victory I can" I answered. "If you can call that a victory."

"The Dalek survived" she said to the Doctor. "Maybe some of your people did too."

"I'd know" he replied, tapping his head. "In here. Feels like there's no-one."

" _Oh, I wouldn't count on that"_ I replied, trying not to smile. _"For better or worse, my history isn't the only one in flux."_

"Good thing we're not going anywhere" I said together with Rose as Adam arrived behind her.

"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're gonna fill it with cement, like it never existed."

"So, where are the artefacts going?" I asked. "UNIT? I mean, they'd have to be somewhere protected, otherwise this'll be an archaeologist's goldmine."

Then, remembering River's history, I smiled.

"Nope. Apparently, they're just gonna stay here" Adam replied, before saying "I'll have to go back home."

"Better hurry up, then" the Doctor told him. "The next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1500 hours."

"Adam was saying that all his life, he's wanted to see the stars" Rose said.

"And he can, through his bedroom window" I replied.

Rose was sad. "He's all on his own, and he did help."

"He _helped_?" I asked, turning to face Adam and running down the list. "Let's see. First, you take her directly to where the Dalek is caged up. Secondly, you leave her behind and don't think twice about it. And third, judging by what stupid decisions Van Statten made regarding this whole thing, you should have stayed away from here in the first place and got hired by someone else. If you want to have a _safe_ job, work for Google. At least there, you don't have aliens coming after you on a regular basis."

At this point, Adam was too shocked to reply, so he just left before it got worse.

"What did you do that for?" Rose asked.

"I just saved his life" I told her. "If he'd come with us, he'd have found some way to change history for the worse. Then, we'd have to leave him home with what he knows, and he'd end up as history for the wrong reasons."

Rose looked at the Doctor as if in confirmation.

"He's not wrong" he said, agreeing with me before we stepped inside the Tardis again and he set a course on the controls.

"Next stop, who knows?" he asked, as the Tardis took off.

"My room" I replied. "After the Slitheen and now a Dalek, I need new clothes. See you when we land."

"See you" the Doctor told me, as I walked back to my room.

Going back to my wardrobe, I picked out the next things that I could wear.

A white t-shirt with a new set of jeans were picked out, with a dark grey jumper to complete the set. I didn't put them on, though. After everything that I had wore, it was now time for an actual set of pyjamas.

Black with navy stripes were the ones I chose and changed into, before I set my new clothes at the foot of my bed and fell asleep ready for the next adventure...

 **AN**

 **Well, hope you enjoyed that chapter, and will follow, review and favourite for more.**

 **Next chapter, we go further into the future, where there seems to be something bizarre regarding the heat of the destination. Either a plumber will do, or just the Three Stooges saving the day as per usual...**

 **Until then, take care!**


	10. News of the World

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 10- News of the World**

 **AN. Sorry it took a bit longer than I would have wanted to. I just had a bit of educational matters to attend to before I got back to writing.**

 **However, that doesn't mean I slowed down a lot. I just devoted my time to something else that I needed to do first.**

 **Last chapter, we found out that there was one Dalek left supposedly in the universe, and look how that turned out.**

 **This chapter, let's just say "fake news" isn't just a matter of speech...**

 **This chapter is rated T for swearing.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who. It is owned by the BBC.**

As the Tardis woke me from my sleep again as it landed, I got up and got changed, before progressing to the central console to find the Doctor and Rose at the doors.

"So, where are we this time?" I asked.

"Only one way to find out" the former replied, gesturing towards the doors.

"Okay..." I said, not believing him as we exited.

Closing the door behind us, the Doctor said "It's the year 200,000 and we're on a space station of some kind."

"200,000?" I asked with awe.

"200,000" the Doctor answered with emphasis and a happy smile.

Rose looked around and said "From the sound of the engines, _definitely_ a space station. Tell you what, though" she continued, fiddling with her collar. "They could turn the heating down."

"Come to think of it, yeah. It _is_ boiling" I replied, feeling the sweat start to form on my arms. "Tell you what; as soon as we find a window or something, that's getting sorted out. Deal?" I asked the Doctor.

"Sure, deal" he replied. "Look, there's a gate over there we can get through" pointing to the west.

"Ladies first" I said to Rose as we got to it.

Helping her with the gate that was covering the door, we walked over a mini bridge and found ourselves in front of a window looking over a planet.

"No way" I said. "Is that..?"

"The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire" the Doctor proclaimed. "And there it is. Planet Earth, at its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population 96 billion, the hub of a galactic domain, stretching over a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle."

"I'm speechless" I said, holding back tears of joy.

"Do you love it?" he asked, as I sat down, nearly fainting with happiness.

"Yes. Yes, I do" I replied, as I realised that Rose had sat beside me.

"Are you alright?" she asked, putting her arm around me.

"After seeing what my world can become now, despite what I went through" I told them, I feel better now than ever before."

"Do you need a moment?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine" I said, still not believing it.

They waited until I felt a little bit better, and then we walked back to the area we'd arrived at.

"Come on. You two are gonna like this" the Doctor told the both of us as we walked around browsing. "Fantastic piece of history, the human race at its most intelligent. "Culture! Art! Politics! This era has got fine food, fine manners..."

We were then rudely interrupted by a vendor who yelled "Out of the way!" as a mini market swiftly opened up and a whole crowd of people paraded past, all trying to get their food.

"Fine cuisine?" Rose asked, as she tried to look at the food that was presented there.

"My watch must be wrong" the Doctor answered as he looked at it. "No, it's fine. That's weird."

"That's what comes with showing off" Rose told him. "Your history's not as good as you thought it was."

"My history's perfect" he retorted.

"Well, obviously not."

Looking around and noticing the people, I asked "Have neither of you noticed the elephant in the room?"

"What elephant?" the Doctor asked.

"If this is supposed to be an empire with millions of planets, where are the millions of species? Right now, all I see are humans."

"Good question" the Doctor replied. "Actually, that _is_ a good question."

He then looked around and said "You must be starving at this point" as he grabbed my shoulder.

"Not really. Just give me a sandwich and I'm sorted" I replied.

"Nah, how about a bit of grub to help?" Turning to the man running the stand, he asked "Oi, mate. How much for a kronkburger?"

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart" the man replied. "Now join the queue."

"Money. We need money" the Doctor said, as we made our way to a terminal.

"So much for fine manners" I replied, making sure no-one heard us.

Getting to a cash point, the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and messed about with the interface.

Less than 5 seconds later, a thin metallic strip popped out that looked like a flattened harmonica and I was handed it.

"There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets."

"And, what? I'm just supposed to find out how it works without any issue?" I asked.

"What are you asking me for? Go find out, stop nagging me!" the Doctor replied.

"The thing is, Marty, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me?" he asked himself as we laughed.

Shooing us away he yelled "Go on, now. Enjoy yourselves!"

As Rose and I made our way to the queue, I asked her "Do _you_ want anything while we're here?"

"Nah, I'm not fussed" she replied, smiling as we slowly but surely made our way up the line.

Knowing we had a while to go before we were the first, she asked "So, was what you were saying true?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"About your Earth."

"Ah. That" I replied.

Leaning in to whisper, I said "At this point, my Earth, as in the one I'm from, is an alternate reality. When I saw the physical and literal end of it with you two, and even now, I actually feel better about it. It may be a cliché, but honestly, seeing everyone here living and breathing through each day, I just feel hope at what happens when perseverance takes over."

"I'm sorry about what you went through. At least you have the two of us to rely on" Rose replied as she held my hand..

"Yeah, that's true. Alright, time to order" I said, as we nearly approached the top.

Browsing the menu, I said "I'll have one kronkburger with cheese, and the Zaffic with it."

"That'll be 3 credits 90" the man replied as I handed him the credit slip.

He then scanned it before giving it back to me and I took the food that was already being prepared and placed on a tray.

"Well, that was quick" I said to Rose as she got straws and napkins before she finding us a table near the stall.

"I know. What's the kronkburger like?" she asked as we sat down.

"I'll find out" I said, as I lifted it towards my mouth.

Trying it, I was surprised to find out that it tasted like a mixture of ham, chicken and something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"So, is it good?" she asked.

"Surprisingly, yes" I said, splitting it apart so she could try it. "What's the Zaffic like? It looked a bit like a Slush Puppy."

She took a sip from one of the straws, and said "It's sort of beef."

"Beef. Of course it is" I laughed, while she did the same. "Well, at least it's not Soylent Green we're eating."

"Soylent Green? Wasn't that…?"

"People" I finished for her. "Yeah. That's the quote everyone remembers from that movie, which is sad, because it spoils the movie for those who haven't seen it."

As we ate and drank together, I said "I'm glad this is split up."

"Why?" Rose asked.

Smiling, I replied "I've seen Lady and the Tramp. I know what happens in this sort of moment.."

"What? You mean… Oh, yeah. Now I remember" Rose said, laughing and getting what I meant. "Yeah. My mum wasn't one for Disney films when I was younger, but that didn't stop me from going round to a friend's house and watching it."

"Good on you" I chuckled. "You were a rebel even before you met us."

"So, what about _you_ , then? How was your family life, before…?"

"Before _I_ got started on this journey?" I asked her.

When she nodded, I told her a bit about my mum and how she helped to raise me after what happened to my dad, before saying "I still miss him, every day."

"At least you got to see your dad a bit, despite his tendencies" Rose replied, sadly. "Mine died when I was just a baby."

"Do you mind telling me?" I asked, carefully. "I mean, it's only fair."

Composing herself, Rose said "No, it's fine. I just.."

"You don't want to say now" I replied. "If you want to say later, that's fine. I won't judge."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome" I told her, before we were interrupted by the sirens blasting and everyone cleared out.

While everyone got up, the Doctor had turned around and noticed us, yelling Oi, Mutt and Jeff. Over here, now!"

"Guess the lunch break is over" I told Rose as we tidied up and walked over to him.

"So, who are your friends?" Rose asked as we approached the Doctor and the two women he had beside him.

"This is Cathica" he said, pointing to the one with cornrows, "And this is Suki" as he pointed to the other one. "Cathica and Suki, meet my associates Marty and Rose. They will also be assessing you to see if you are fit for promotion."

"Right, then" Cathica said. We'll lead on and show you what we do here."

"Fine by me" the Doctor replied, as the two women led us across the floor and through a hallway, before we found ourselves in a round room with what looked like a dentist's chair in the centre with a dome above it, surrounded by a septagonal base, with people gathered around it and hand scanners placed in front of them.

Cathica then took control as Suki sat down in an empty spot, and said "Now, everyone behave. We have a management inspection. How do you want it? By the book?"

"Just from scratch, thanks" the Doctor told her as he looked at Rose and myself, who smiled.

"Ok, so, ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided, or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni. That's Cathica with a C, just in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please do."

While she said "Feel free to ask any questions", I thought _"Wow, just when I thought the future was great. Here's Little Miss Gullible to help lead the charge."_

Due to my thinking, I had zoned out until Cathica brought me back with "Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go" she said, as she put herself onto the chair. "And… Engage safety" she told everyone else, who hovered their hands over the imprints.

Then, she clicked her fingers and her head opened up revealing a mechanical system that lead a direct hole to her brain, which made us look on in morbid fascination.

Everyone then physically placed their hands where the imprints where as she counted down, saying "3, 2, and spike."

The instant she said "spike", a stream flowed directly from the dome above her into her head.

"Compressed information, streaming into her" the Doctor said at last. "Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She's part of the software. Her brain _is_ the computer!"

"If it must go through her, she must be a genius" Rose said.

"Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it" the Doctor replied. "There's too much. Her head would blow up. The brain's the processor. Soon as it closes, she forgets."

"And what about the people around the edge?" I asked, recovering from silence.

"They've all got tiny chips inside their head, connecting them to her, and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place" the Doctor answered, as he came back to where I was standing. "Now _that's_ what I call power."

"Now, _that's_ what I call human resources" I replied.

I was somehow mesmerised by the stream as it kept going into Cathica's head.

"You want to get out?" Rose asked.

"For some weird reason, I can't take my eyes off it" I answered. "I mean, it's amazing, but at the same time..."

"This technology's wrong" the Doctor finished. "Don't you get any ideas" he said, pointing at me. "If you got this in your head, I'd leave you behind without a second thought."

"Wouldn't dream of it" I replied. "Why do you think I got Adam to leave rather than come with us? If he were here now, he'd try literally get this idea in his head."

Looking up, the Doctor got a very solemn expression on his face.

"Trouble?" We asked him.

"Oh, yeah" he smiled at us.

Suddenly, Suki winced and jolted.

"Something's wrong" I said, noticing her.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, as Suki lifted her hands from the imprint, causing a domino effect, until Cathica was forced to end the process.

"Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway yet" she told her.

"It must have been a glitch" she replied, as I still had my doubts.

We were then broken out of the questioning by the PA system, that said "Promotion" before filling up one of the walls.

"Come on, this is it, come on!" Cathica said, crossing her fingers. "Come on, make it me, make it me. Say my name, say my name, say my name" she chanted.

"Promotion for Suki Macrea Cantrell. Please report to Floor 500" the voice said at last.

"I don't believe it. Floor 500" Suki whispered.

"How the hell did you manage that?" Cathica demanded. "I'm above you!"

"I don't know. I just applied on the off chance. And they've said yes!"

"So not fair. I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years."

"What's Floor 500?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"That walls are made of gold" he answered, nonplussed.

"And I suppose the Easter bunny helps up there?" I whispered to Rose as she told me to "shh".

As we were led out, Suki said "Cathica, I'm gonna miss you. Floor 500, thank you" she told the Doctor.

"I didn't do anything" he replied.

"You're my lucky charm."

"Alright, I'll hug anyone."

And he did lean forward and did just that while Rose and I looked on.

"Are you alright?" She asked, noticing my expression.

"Never better" I answered.

"Then what's the face for?"

I just.. I think there's something big going on here. Call it a sixth sense, but I can sort of sense the great wizard here isn't as wise as he claims to be."

"You mean the Doctor, or…?"

"Just this place. I think the news isn't as trustworthy as what we're seeing."

"Do you want to tell him?"

"No, we need to wait until Suki goes up. If we act now, that'll only cause more suspicion here."

"Okay" Rose replied, not really understanding.

As Suki stepped into the lift, and we saw her for the last time, she yelled "Say goodbye to Steve for me! Bye!" she called out one last time before the doors closed on her.

"Good riddance" Cathica muttered.

"You're talking like you'll never see her again" the Doctor replied. "She's only going upstairs."

"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500, you never come back."

"So why the Lemming approach to promotion?" I asked. "If it's as bad as it sounds, why apply?"

"That's another good question" the Doctor answered. "I take it you haven't been up there, then?" he asked Cathica.

"Can't. You need a key for the lift, and the key only comes with promotion. No-one gets to 500, except the chosen few."

"Right, so we need to go back into the room we were in to properly investigate" the Doctor told us.

Begrudgingly, Cathica led us back there, opening the door and saying "Look, they only give us 20 minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?"

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" the Doctor asked her.

"I went to Floor 16 when I first arrived. That's medical, that's when I got my head done. And then, I… I came here. Satellite Five, you work, eat, and sleep on the same floor, and that's it, that's all."

Finally, she put 2 and 2 together. "You're not management, are you?"

"At last, she's clever!" I replied.

"Yeah, well. Whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything."

"But you don't ask at all?" I queried.

"Why _would_ I?"

"You're a _journalist_ " the Doctor replied, before asking "Why is all the crew human?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"There aren't any aliens on board here. Why?" I asked.

"I don't know. No real reason. They're not banned or anything."

"Then where are they?" the Doctor asked, making a show of looking around.

"I suppose Immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats."

"What threats?" I asked.

"I don't know, all of them, usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled, so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see? Lots of little reasons, that's all."

"Adding up to one big fact. And you didn't even notice" the Doctor told her.

"Doctor, I think if there was some sort of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."

"Unless it's an inside job" I answered, putting Cathica into a bit of a shutdown. "I mean, has no-one else suspected that, even for an instant? There haven't been any signs of resistance whatsoever?"

Agreeing, the Doctor said "This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."

"It's cutting edge!" protested Cathica.

"It's _backwards_. There's a great big door in your head. You should have chucked it out years ago."

"So, what do you think is going on?" Rose asked us.

"Like I said earlier, there's something not right with this station" I told everyone. "I had the same problems you did, Doctor. This whole attitude is up the left, and it's affecting the way people are thinking."

Summing it up, the Doctor said "The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire is stunted. Something's holding it back."

"And how would _you_ know?" Cathica asked, with anger in her tone.

"Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"

"91 years ago."

"And _there's_ the key" I replied. "Time we got a closer look at this mainframe here."

Walking to one of the lifts near where Suki had gone up in, the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver while Rose and I kept watch.

"We're so going to get in trouble" Cathica said to herself as the Doctor buzzed one of the doors and it came apart.

"You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you'll get told off" she continued.

"One of you two, tell her to button it" the Doctor said, concentrating on the door.

" _Seriously_ , how are you not even a _little_ bit curious?" I asked Cathica. "We could be uncovering a major plot, and you're worried about vandalism."

"I-I-It's not right" she stammered as the Doctor kept working. "I shouldn't even be here. I'm heading back to work."

"Go on, then. See ya" the Doctor told her.

"I can't just _leave_ you here, can I?"

"If you want to do something useful, tell them to turn down the heat, it's boiling" Rose said.

"What's wrong with this place? Can't they do anything about it?"

"I don't know. I keep asking. Something to do with the turbines."

"Something to do with the turbines" the Doctor mocked.

"But _I_ don't know."

"Exactly. I gave up on you, Cathica. Now, these two are asking the right questions. Marty's asking about inside conspiracies, and Rose is asking about the heating. Why is it so hot?" he asked.

"One minute you're asking about the Empire, and the next minute, it's the central heating."

"Oh, _never_ underestimate plumbing. Plumbing is very important" the Doctor said, yanking out some of the cables.

Finding a screen, he pulled it out and let us see it. "Here you go, Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout."

"This is ridiculous" Cathica said, holding it. "You've got access to the computer's core. You could look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange… And you're looking at pipes?"

"But there's something wrong" the Doctor replied.

"I suppose."

"Why, what is it?" Rose asked.

"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out. Channelling massive amounts of heat down."

"All the way from the top" I said, giving her another puzzle piece.

"Floor 500" Rose finished.

"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat."

"Well, I don't know about you" Rose said to Cathica, "But I feel we're missing out out on a party. It's all going on upstairs."

"Fancy a trip, then?" I asked her.

"You can't, you need a key" Cathica replied.

"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here" the Doctor said, pointing at the screen. "Here we go. Override 215.9."

"How come it's giving _you_ the code?" Cathica asked as it finished.

"Someone up there likes me" the Doctor replied, looking up at a camera.

"Shall we?" Rose asked, as the three of us stepped into the lift.

"Onward and upward" the Doctor replied, pressing the button.

"If you _are_ gonna help, Cathica" I told her before the doors closed, "Just put your mind to it, and you can accomplish anything."

As she looked on with confusion, the doors sealed shut, and we slowly but surely ascended.

"You _know_ they'll be expecting us" I said.

"Yep" the Doctor replied.

"And it'll probably be freezing" Rose added.

"Yep."

"We _are_ gonna do something about it, right?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Thanks for the words of inspiration" Rose replied as the doors opened and the cold already started to affect us.

"Fuck" I shivered, as Rose did the same.

"The walls are _not_ made of gold" the Doctor said, looking around, serious. "You two should go back downstairs."

"Tough" we said together.

"I'm not passing up the chance to topple a media corporation" I said, "Especially if it's as corrupt as it seems."

"Plus, I don't think we'd be allowed to leave now" Rose added.

"Just stay beside me" I told her. "It'll give us a bit more heat here."

As she did so, and we walked though this tundra, we approached a platform where a man stood at the end of it facing a bunch of computer screens, and who said "I started without you."

Laughing, he continued, saying "This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire."

We walked slowly towards the screens as he listed off "Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three… You don't exist. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?" he asked, as Rose noticed a sad but familiar sight and rushed over to her.

"Suki! Suki!" she yelled, getting no response. "Hello?" she asked, to the frozen remnant. "Can you hear me? What have they done to her?" she asked the two of us.

"She's dead, Rose" I replied.

"But she's working."

"They've all got chips in their heads, and the chips keep them going" the Doctor explained.

"Puppets from beyond the grave" I said, sickened.

"Oh! You're _full_ of information" the man exclaimed with a happy look on his face. "But it's only fair we get some information back. Because, apparently, you're no-one. It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?" he asked us.

"It doesn't matter. We're off. Nice to meet you" the Doctor told him, before I got the message and said to Rose "Come on, we're leaving."

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case, as 4 men approached us out of nowhere and took the Doctor and myself in one arm each, while Rose was grabbed by Suki.

"Tell me who you _are_!" the man demanded.

"Since that information's keeping us alive, we're hardly gonna say, aren't we?" the Doctor asked him.

"Well, perhaps my Editor-In-Chief can convince you otherwise."

"And who's that?" I asked.

Whispering, the man said "It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually _human_ at all. It's merely a place where humans are allowed to live."

Then, we heard a growling from above, as the man seemed to be listening to it and acknowledging some changes.

"It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client" he finished, snapping his fingers and making us look up at a giant pink mouth that snapped like a hanging boil.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, scared.

"You mean, that _thing's_ in charge of Satellite Five?" the Doctor asked.

"'That _thing'_ as you put it, is in charge of the human race."

Noticing the shocked look on our faces, he continued "For almost 100 years, mankind has been shaped and guided. His knowledge and ambition, strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxaradenfoe. I call him Max" he finished gleefully.

"You must be fun at parties" I said, sarcastically as all three of us were placed into special restraints that held us in place.

"Create a climate of fear, and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a manner of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast, repeated often enough, can destabilize an economy. Invent an enemy. Change a vote."

"And here I thought "fake news" was just a ghost story" I muttered, as Rose asked "So, all the people on Earth are just slaves?"

"Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"

"Yes" the Doctor and I answered.

"Allow me to answer that with one of my own" I said. "Was a man sent to kill, or a slave? The answer?: A man chooses. A slave obeys" I told him, quoting Andrew Ryan's final moments in Bioshock. For all the mistakes that man had made, he'd made a valid point about obedience.

"Oh. And here, I thought I'd have to skip the philosophical debate" the Editor replied, with a smile on his face as the Doctor and Rose gave me a questioning look.

" _Just go with it_ " I said with my eyes, hoping they'd understand.

"So, you know all about slavery, do you?" he asked me, approaching me.

"I know that if you make someone into something they're not, they _will_ rebel" I answered, trying to buy time. "And it usually doesn't end well for the slaver."

"And how would _you_ know _that_?"

"Because I've known people like you before. People who thought they were high and mighty, before it all came crumbling around them."

"And that's another thing" I wondered. "Someone must've noticed this thing happening. You couldn't keep this going without problems."

"From time to time, there are some who question it, yes. But the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it. And then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth, like they're so individual. When, of course, they're not. They're like cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."

While he had been talking, the Doctor and I were in the right position to see Cathica who had arrived at this floor, and was lurking about.

Rose, however, was oblivious to seeing her, and asked "What about you? You're not a Jagra.. umm, belly..."

"Jagrafess" we said together and corrected her.

"Jagrafess, thank you. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."

"Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well."

"So, this isn't a one-man job" I summed up. "You've had help. Who from, I wonder?" I asked, smiling.

"Ah, now _that_ is client confidentiality. You see I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to, um, install himself."

Realising that we could stall him even more, while telling Cathica what she needed to hear, the Doctor said "No wonder, a creature that size. What's its life span?"

"3000 years."

"That's one hell of a metabolism, generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, stays alive."

"Satellite Five is one great big life-support system" I realised, hoping Cathica could hear.

"But _that's_ why you three are so dangerous" the Editor said. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown."

Snapping his fingers as he moved away from us, we felt the restraints electrify.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Leave them alone" the Doctor pleaded with him as they briefly stopped. "I'm the Doctor, She's Rose Tyler and that's Marty Smith, we're nothing, just wandering."

"Tell me who you _are!_ " the Editor demanded.

"I've just said" the Doctor told him.

"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who knows about us?"

"You said it yourself!" I yelled out. "We don't exist."

Suddenly I felt a blinding pain in my head as though someone was digging through it and locating something, which caused me to collapse a bit at the knees.

I wailed out in more pain and shouted "Get out of my head!"

"Marty, what's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"There's..something...in my...memories..." I gasped. "They're.. trying to find...you."

"Me? What do you… Oh, no" the Doctor realised, as he knew what that meant.

"Time Lord" the Editor said with glee. "The last of the Time Lords. And his travelling machine. What was it you called it? A Tardis."

"Fuck you!" I bellowed out through gritted teeth, as I tried to contain the memories of what I knew from the Doctor.

"Time travel. His little companions from long ago. So many people..."

"Stop it!" the Doctor told him. "Let Marty go! I'll die before I'll give you it."

"Die all you like, because I can have the key" the Editor said him as he reached forward to get mine in my pocket.

Knowing he was close and trying to control myself, I stood on his foot as he reached out, which made him laugh in pain as he backed away.

"Even when you're shackled, you're still persistent" he chuckled.

"Let us out of them, and you'll find how persistent we can be" the Doctor replied.

"Today, _we_ are the headlines" the Editor proclaimed. "We can rewrite history. We can prevent mankind from ever developing."

"And no-one's gonna stop you" the Doctor realised. "Because you bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves believing every lie. "They'll just trot right into the slaughterhouse if it's told it's made of gold."

Realising he was talking to Cathica now, I smiled, even under the amount of torture I was still getting from the Jagrafess.

30 seconds later, the alarms blared and the Editor said "Someone's disengaged the safety. Who's that?" he asked, as we were shown a live video of Cathica in one of the chairs on this floor.

"That, you bastard, is your fucking downfall" I laughed.

"It's Cathica" Rose said.

"And she's thinking" the Doctor replied. "She's using what she knows. Everything we told her about Satellite Five, the pipes, the filters, she's reversing it."

"It's getting hotter" I murmured, feeling the Jagrafess's strength depleting as mine recovered.

Then, all the screens exploded as the battle of the minds was won by Cathica.

What also helped, was that the electricity jumping about got Rose's cuffs off, and she tried to get the Doctor's off before mine.

"She's venting the heat" the Doctor said. "That Jagrafess needs to stay cool, and now it's sitting on top of a volcano."

Snarling, the Jagrafess snapped at the Doctor and myself as Rose pulled the sonic screwdriver out.

"How do I use it?" She asked.

"Press the switch!"

She did so quickly, as they got him out of his restraints before getting mine.

"Oi, mate" the Doctor called out to him as he freed me. "Want to bank on a massive certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang! See you in the headlines!""

Trying to get as much strength back as I could, I ran beside him, all the way to where Rose was, before we heard the explosion of the Jagrafess and found Cathica in her chair.

Snapping his fingers, the Doctor closed her head and silently assured her that everything was over.

Slowly but surely, we got back to the lift and took it back to the very floor we had started on, with no-one talking until it was over.

Exiting and finding a seat, the Doctor and I sat down for a minute while I attempted to calm my mind.

When I was more or less healthy, or as healthy as you can be after that, the Doctor told Cathica "We'd better leave. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage."

"You'll have to stay and explain it" she replied. "No-one's going to believe me."

"After this, I think they'll believe a whole lot more, now" I told her.

"Human race should accelerate back to normal" the Doctor finished as he went back to the Tardis.

"Here. Hold on a second" I said to Cathica, as I reached into my pocket and lifted out the credit slip that the Doctor had given me earlier. "Parting gift. Hopefully it'll do you much better than us. Not sure how many credits are on it, but if it's a sizeable amount, you'll probably be set for a while."

"Thank you, I guess."

"You're welcome" I said, as I joined Rose and the Doctor back at the Tardis.

Closing the door behind me, I approached the central console, where I was surprised to find only the Doctor there.

"Where's Rose?" I asked.

"I wanted her to go to her room for a bit" he replied, looking down.

"Why?"

"Because I'm worried, Marty."

"About what?"

"Not what. Who" he said, gazing at me.

"You're worried about me? Why?"

"What happened on Floor 500 wasn't natural. I don't know how the Jagrafess was able to access your memories without a brain chip, but it happened anyway and your memories nearly cost me the Tardis and you two."

"Are you expecting me to give you an answer?" I asked. "If I knew what was going on, I would have told you at once. Besides, I was with you the whole time, remember?"

Calming somewhat, I said "I'm not sure if it's something to do with the way I was sent back, the Tardis or what, but whatever it is, I'm sorry."

"I know. I'm sorry too" the Doctor replied, giving me a hug.

"Once we find out why or how this is happening, we'll fix it together" I said. "Until then, we need to have a clear head."

"We'll talk more when we know more information" the Doctor agreed. "Goodnight, I guess."

"Goodnight" I said, walking back to my room.

Sitting back on the bed, I called Jack.

"You know that job you wanted me to do?" I asked simply when it went to voicemail. "I'll do it, as soon as we land back on Earth. You have my word. Until then, take care. Bye."

Putting it down again, I went to sleep, this time even more concerned about what this shit regarding the Jagrafess reading my mind had to do with me travelling with the Doctor. Not to mention, I had made the Tardis a deal that I would help her out.

Despite my misgivings in the past/future, I wasn't going to disobey this one, no matter how hard or long it was going to be.

Lying back on my bed again, I let the Tardis' engines take me into slumber...

 **If you enjoyed this chapter, please follow, favourite and review for more.**

 **Well, hopefully the questions asked in this chapter will come full circle later.**

 **Next chapter, it's actually going to be the job that was mentioned by both Jack and the OC. Yep, Father's Day isn't going to be the focus. That's for Rose to face, and not the OC. Besides, after what the OC has been through, they don't need more trips down memory lane. A job for him is like his version of an adventure with Rick Sanchez.**

 **Until next time, thanks for reading.**


	11. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 11 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap**

 **AN 1 - Hi, all and welcome back to the next part of my series. Sorry for this being so late when I keep saying "They'll be updated every week." Yeah... Apparently education is taking more on me than I thought, so that's one factor that affected me a lot.**

 **Another one is that I'm currently job-seeking, which is proving to be really difficult at this time of year.**

 **Finally, the third factor is that I wanted to make a great chapter where it was Jack and Marty being the focus, with a bookend of Father's Day. Hopefully, I delivered on that. It's up to you.**

 **In the previous chapter, the trio managed to overthrow a corrupt news broadcaster and save the Earth of 200,000.**

 **This chapter, it's not exactly a bottle episode, but it is something that I really took my time to write.**

 **Please enjoy.**

For once, the Tardis herself woke me up, telepathically nudging me and getting me awake.

"W-what is it?" I asked her, sleepily.

" _Do not think I am ignorant"_ she replied. _"I know what your life has been like, and what you are trying to keep secret. But, that does not mean that I am patient with my requests. If you are wanting to continue with the Doctor, you must honour what we discussed, and do it soon."_

Finally awake, I said "Alright. I will honour it. First, you have to give me the plans to you, so that I can get an idea of what I'm dealing with. I'm not sure how easy that's going to be, but I can try to make it work."

" _Don't worry. It won't be that difficult. In fact, you barely have to worry about carrying heavy property."_

Noticing my confused look, she said _"Look in the top drawer of the desk."_

As I walked over to it and opened it up, I was surprised to find a flash drive laying there in the centre.

I realised "This is all on here? All of your plans, they're just on this?"

" _Correct. I was able to give you a digitised version of my manual, which is much easier than carrying around a lot of books and being conspicuous, no?"_

"Yes" I agreed at last, before slipping it into my pocket.

" _Now, go. Do your mission. Hopefully your friend will understand how this has to be done."_

"You haven't told the Doctor about this, have you?" I asked, shock suddenly crossing my face. "About _this_ ", tapping my pocket where the flash drive was, "Or about Jack? That's all secret, right?"

" _As secret as I can keep it. But know this. Sooner or later, all secrets come out in the end."_

"You don't have to tell _me_ twice. _And_ , if this were to happen, it could mess up the space-time continuum for everyone."

I opened my wardrobe and lifted out a navy rucksack, opening it and started to fill it with clothes that were coming out from my wardrobe. A few t-shirts, jumpers, jeans and underwear of course.

All covering the gun that I had been using, with as many different clips as I could fit in-between the layers of clothes.

I sealed it shut, and lifted my iPod and phone before closing the door behind me and walking to the central console, where Rose was talking about her dad, and how he died.

"What's all this, then?" the Doctor asked, as he noticed me.

"My contact called me, and wanted me to do a job for them" I replied. "So, I'll probably be away for a few days until it's done."

"What sort of job?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"No idea, but I'll know when I get back to Earth."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked, as the Doctor and I exchanged a silent glance at each other, not wanting to tell her about what happened after Satellite Five.

"Yeah. Besides, you said it yourself, Rose. I've seen my dad quite a bit before he died. You never knew yours properly. So, if you two are gonna be off and see him, I'll take my leave. You deserve this, Rose, and I'm not gonna get in the way of that."

"Thank you" she said, giving me a sad smile.

"You're welcome" I replied, before saying to the Doctor "Just leave me off a few hours from when we left Mickey and Jackie. I'll be fine."

"What about the location?" he asked. "This travels in space as well, you know."

"Newport, Wales" I told him, before I looked at their curious faces. "What? I just like the history of it" I lied, not wanting to be explicit and say "Take me to the place where we encountered that rift, only in 2006." I wanted to be as close as I could be to Cardiff but try and not give the game away really quick.

"Is that north or south?" The Doctor asked me. "I just want to make sure I'm not taking you to the wrong place."

"South" I said, clarifying for him.

"South Newport, Wales it is, then. Hold on tight."

We did, before it landed and I got up, trying not to stumble.

"You _did_ get the time right, didn't you?" I asked, before I stepped out the door. "It's not gonna be the same as before?"

"Nope. The time and date are correct, this time. March 28th, 2006, 10:40am. See you soon."

"Bye" I replied, giving them a wave as I stepped out the door.

As I moved away from the Tardis as it took off, I realised I was in a busy street in the middle of Newport, filled with bustling people.

Noticing an empty space near a cafe, I stood there for a bit, getting my bearings right before I called Jack, who answered quickly.

"Marty, I got your message. Where are you?"

"Newport. I've only just arrived. Come and pick me up."

"Will do. Give me 20 minutes, and I'll be with you soon. Bye."

"Bye" I said, hanging up.

When he did pick me up, I had been close to where there was a car park, so I got in without him paying.

Jack put my rucksack in the back seat of his car, and I sat shotgun.

"So, how've you been?" He asked as we drove back to Cardiff. "You know, since we last talked."

"You want the long story, or the short one?" I asked him back.

"Long. Why not? We've got a bit to go anyway."

"Well..." I began, "For starters, the Tardis wants me to give her a voice."

"What?" Jack asked, confusion clear on his face. "I don't even..."

"Me neither. But she's had this planned for a long time, it seems. She doesn't want to just communicate telepathically with everyone. She literally wants to be heard."

"Well, how?"

"She gave me a digital version of her schematics on a flash drive. I figured, when we get back to the Hub and do this job, we can kill 2 birds with one stone."

"You realise this might be impossible, right?"

"Pot calling the kettle black."

"Touché. So, aside from that elephant, any other things happening?"

"We _may_ have fucked over planet Earth in 200,000" I answered with a chuckle, before looking at Jack's face, which showed both fear and sadness. "You know what happens during that time, don't you?" I asked, my face now changing to concerned.

He said nothing, but I could see in his eyes that he knew a dark secret, one that I'd probably have to see for myself.

Recovering from his trance, he slowly asked "Is there...anything.. _else_ you've been up to?"

"No" I replied, knowing that it _really_ wasn't the best time to bring up the Dalek, and how that was dealt with. "That was all."

Instead, I asked, "What about you? Anything out of the ordinary here?"

"In Cardiff, what _isn't_ out of the ordinary here?" he asked at last. "It's a tough job for one guy because of you being gone, but I've had worse days."

"I'm sorry" I said, remembering the stories he'd told about his "rebirth".

"It's ok. Besides, you wanted to be with the Doctor and I've had it handled alright."

"Ok. So, what's the job?" I asked as we approached the underground parking of the Hub.

"I'll tell you when we get in properly. Just remember to duck coming out of the door. There's still a bit of dimension issues with the garage, and I don't know how many times I've done the same thing."

"You haven't had something done about it?"

"I've tried, but people either ignore me, or are too busy. Ah, well. Welcome back to Costa Del Harkness" he said, as we drove into his parking space.

Taking what he said into account, I knelt down while I was getting out of the car so I didn't hit my head on the pillar. Then, I lifted my bag out slowly, making sure not to disturb anything.

"You need any help with that?" Jack inquired.

"I think I'm good, thanks. Come on, then. Best foot forward" I said, heaving the rucksack on top of me.

Jack led the way to where a busted out lift was present and opened the door for the two of us.

He stood in front of the call button panel on the inside and lifted it up, to reveal a fingerprint reader behind it.

"You want to go first, or should I?" I asked.

"I need to go first anyway. Authority overrides this thing."

And he placed his right thumb over the reader which scanned it for a few seconds before it registered him.

I did the same thing, before it activated and moved upwards, propelling us to the floor.

As we heard it ding, the lift stopped and we got out slowly.

"Didn't think I'd be using _that_ one again" I told him. "It's gotta be what, 2 years since I stepped foot in it?"

"Times change" Jack replied, before he turned around and I saw the Hub in its glory.

"It seems a lot more improved since I was last here" I said, looking at the morgue and the offices that were laid about. "Then again, you go away for a year, and a lot of things happen during that time. What did I miss, anyway? 'Cause the Doctor knows fuck all about it."

"There were riots, a few deaths and lot of media stuff, some of it focusing around Katrina."

"Wait. Hurricane Katrina?"

"Yeah. How'd _you_ know about it?"

"My mum was taught about it for a few of her geography classes. How bad was it?"

"A lot of property damage and nearly 2000 deaths."

"Jesus" I said, covering my mouth. "I'm sorry. Was there anyone you knew who got caught up in it?"

"Thankfully, no. It was still a nightmare, though, from what the news reports said about it."

"Anything else that happened?"

"I forget, but you can check online to find out what you missed."

You don't mind if I'm on the computer, then?"

"Sure. Go ahead. Password's still the same as before. Just don't stay on it too long. The job starts tonight, so try and get a rest."

"Will do" I said, as I sat down before turning on the computer. "You're still living here, right?" I asked the retreating figure of Jack.

"Couldn't get rid of me" he replied with a laugh, and I loaded up Google before muttering "Alright. What else have you got for me?"

A few hours later, I was shocked at what I had seen when I searched up the past year.

Sure enough, Katrina had dealt a lot of chaos in its wake and a lot of people had died, but that wasn't the only thing that I had skipped.

I had been looking forward to watching Batman Begins and Serenity in the cinema. Now, thanks to the Doctor, I'd have to get them on DVD to fully experience them.

Same with Smallville and Supernatural. I'd missed the start of both series, and I wanted to be watching the latter when it began. Guess _that_ didn't happen.

"Fuck it. Might as well call it a day" I said, before logging off and shutting the computer down. _"What time is it, anyway?"_ I thought, looking at my watch. _"2pm? Shit. Well, might as well put everything into my room."_

And I heaved my bag into my new room, which had previously been one of the offices, opened it up with new clothes and lifted out the gun, placing it under my pillow.

Finally, I did the same with the flash drive, taking it out of my pocket and also gutting it beneath my pillow.

I set the new clothes that I wanted to wear in a pile near the door, set my alarm to 9 and rested my eyes until we had to go.

"Up and at 'em!" Jack called out to me, waking me up from my sleep.

"Is it time to work?" I asked, groggily.

"Yep. Come on. The job's started."

"Alright, I'm coming" I said, trying to wake my legs up and going through my clothes.

I put on the red and navy shirt I had picked, before covering it with a brown jacket and lifted out the pistol from my pillow, reloaded it with a normal clip, finally placing it in my belt. Then, I walked over to Jack, who was in his office and putting on his coat.

"Got your 40 winks?" he asked as I approached.

"Yeah. Managed to catch up on the past year as well."

"So, what did you miss?"

"Batman Begins and Serenity, unfortunately. Still, I can always buy them sooner or later."

"Serenity? Isn't that the one with umm.." Jack asked, hands in his hair, trying to remember the name. "God, who was it?"

"Nathan Filion?"

" _That's_ the one! I thought I recognised him. I knew his face, but not his name."

"How did you forget? We watched Firefly when it was on."

"I'm a busy guy, Marty! I don't sit still a lot, and when I do, it's very little."

"Kinda like Mal Reynolds, then" I laughed. "Boy, was _that_ a fun Halloween."

"Yep. Anyway, the job's here" Jack replied, getting us both on track and pointing at a case file on his desk. "Go and read it, then we'll get started."

Opening the file up, I read it and my eyes widened.

"Holy shit. A triple murder. Let's see..." I said, reading the report. "Victims late 20s to late 40s, killed by intense bites to the necks. Coroner discovered claw marks on the arms of the victims..."

I trailed off and said "Claw marks..." before realising with a look of "Not again".

Looking up at Jack, I asked "Aww, shit. Weevils again?"

"Looks like it" Jack answered. "No idea why they're acting up now. They've been quiet during the year you were gone, and now they're popping back up on our radar."

"I thought they were contained."

"Marty, you really think the sewers of Cardiff are enough to hold them altogether?"

"Fair point" I replied. "I just hope this ends up better than last time. I nearly lost my leg to those bastards."

"And this is why you go ahead and shoot quick" Jack quipped. "Any longer, and you'd have been gone, and neither of us wanted that to happen."

"So, what's the plan? Bag and tag, or what?"

"We'll know when we get there. Until then, we need to get ready. Go get a gun from the firing range."

"Actually" I said, lifting my own out, "I kind of already have one."

"Jesus Christ. Where did you get that from?" Jack inquired with fear on his face.

"One of the bodies during the Slitheen meeting while the Doctor was trying to save both our lives. It's not like anyone's going to miss it."

"Not going to miss it? Marty, that's _evidence._ The police are probably still looking for it."

"And yet it's been silent a lot. Jack, if they wanted to look for it, we would have heard about it by now. And besides, you told me to be prepared for this."

"Yeah, I meant get one legally, not corpse-looting."

" _You're_ one to talk" I fired back. "How much of this stuff over the years have you gained _without_ swindling, even before you met me?"

"That's not fair" Jack answered, pointing his finger at me. "You knew what happened to me, so I thought _you_ of all people would understand about this level of discretion."

"Yeah, which is why I'm calling you a hypocrite" I told him. "You're lucky I haven't sold you out, otherwise it would change what we have right now altogether. Now, if that's all the shit we want to pull at this moment, I suggest we get a move on. I'll meet you back at the car" I finished tensely, before moving away to the gun range, picking up a suppressor for the pistol and 2 more clips of regular ballistic ammo, and to where the stairs were.

I had just gotten to the bottom of the stairs, after 6 flights of them, when I saw Jack leaning against the car door, waiting in his usual getup for me. Either he ran by me without me noticing, or he took a secret lift that even I didn't know about.

"What took you so long?" he asked with a smug smile, as I silently got in the passenger seat.

We drove off again and I finally asked "Where are we going, then?"

"He speaks!" Jack exclaimed, before noticing my face. "Oh, come on. Lighten up. I'm only making a joke."

"Ha ha ha" came my monotone response.

"Look, you want to know where we're going?"

"Yes, _please_ " I answered sarcastically.

"Fine" Jack said at last, knowing my tone. "There's been a whole lot of Weevil activity underneath the Brecon Beacons National Park for a few months now, and it looks like the main source of the problem. That's gonna be our first priority."

"Any idea how many there'll be?"

"Nope. Which means we gonna have to be quiet and make the shots count."

"What about the clean-up?"

"We'll worry about that later. Get ready" Jack finished as we drove past the sign for said park.

Approaching the gate for it, Jack reached into his pocket, pulled out his psychic paper and held it up to the window so that the guards could see it.

Telling us to stop, they signalled for him to stop the car and put the window down.

"Can I help you?" One of the guards asked us in a curious tone.

"We're Torchwood" Jack replied, gesturing to the two of us. "I understand you've got an animal problem underneath here that we could help with."

"Problem? What sort of problem?" the same guard asked.

"People going missing suddenly. Bodies turning up with unexplained markings. That sort of thing. Plus" Jack said, slowly giving the guard £20, "You'll never know we were here."

"First left, then follow the trail around to the sewers. Now, hurry" the guard whispered, before the barrier was lifted.

Leaving the gate behind and following the path, I asked Jack "What did you show him?"

"The truth. That we were Torchwood, and that he needed to help us out ASAP. Now, here we go" he said, as we came to a sewer grate that looked like it had been either lifted or ripped slightly.

"Shit" I said with fear, as we saw it properly now. The grate wasn't just ripped. It had been _sliced_ open.

"Oh, this is bad" Jack said, reaching the same conclusion as he stopped the car and we got out.

"Marty, get the equipment out of the back" he ordered. "Quickly!"

I opened the boot and lifted out a heavy military bag, before putting it down in front of us.

Unzipping it to find body armour, torches and flare guns, I put mine on fast before giving the rest to Jack.

Finally, I took out the suppressor and screwed it on my pistol before looking at him.

"Marty, this is worse than I thought" Jack said, running to where the grate was lying.

"How worse can it be?" I asked, as we turned both of the torches on and looked at the grate, then recoiled in terror at what the light caught.

"Ah. _That_ worse" I said, as we stared at the 5 Weevils who were trying to climb out of the sewer towards us.

Recovering fast, I aimed fast with my gun and shot them in their heads before they could get any further. Jack, meanwhile was staring with shock in his face.

"What?" I asked him as we heard the multiple thumps below. "If they had came nearer, neither of us would be able to stop them, me especially."

"Yeah, I know _that_ " he replied, "I'm just amazed at your reflexes. You remind me of myself. Maybe I taught you a little _too_ well..."

While we listened out in case any more of them approached, Jack said "Alright. I'll lead the way this time. You follow behind and watch our backs. If we get into trouble, just bail. No need for any heroics. Neither of us want to end up down here for good."

"You sure about this?" I asked, as he went over to the ladder at the sewer and placed his hands on the rungs.

"Absolutely" he muffled, climbing down the ladder with the torch in his mouth.

He landed with a splash in the water, and I quickly followed suit, keeping my torch on in case of any more of them showing up.

"Do you have any idea of the layout here?" I whispered to him as my beam found his face.

"A little" he replied. "Stay behind me. There's no telling how many of them are still here."

Sloshing our way through the dingy mess, we came to an intersection. Jack waited for a second for me to stop with him, then we both listened for activity.

At once, we heard a faint yelling coming from the left.

"Help… me.." Jack said, hearing the noises. "Ok, this is odd. Either these Weevils are smarter than we thought..."

"Or, someone else is down here" I realised. "You don't think they're feasting here, do you?"

"I really don't know. We can't just ignore it, though. If someone's down here, we have to do something about it."

"Alright, but if this is a trap, we run like hell. Agreed?" I asked him.

"Agreed. Let's go and see whose party we're crashing."

As we stuck to the outer walls, we soon approached the sound of the noise, which turned out to be something neither of us were expecting.

What looked to be a little girl was huddled up in a ball, with a rock in her hand, banging the pipes and calling out louder.

"Watch our 6" Jack told me. "This may be a trap."

As I readied my weapon, Jack had moved forward cautiously, as to not set anything off.

"Hi, sweetie" he said quiet and as caring, moving as carefully as he could, while keeping eye contact with her. "My name's Jack. What's yours?"

"A-Alice" came a mutter from her lips, and we both heard the Welsh accent coming through.

"Alice, huh? That's a nice name. Tell me, what are you doing down here, and not with people?" Jack asked, looking over her to see if there were any markings present.

"I ran away when my daddy wouldn't take me home" she sniffed, "And now I'm all by myself here."

"How old are you, Alice?" Jack asked her.

"8" she replied, "but I'll be 9 next month."

"Well, that's good to know" Jack told her with his signature smile. "You want to come back with us, Alice? I'm sure your parents miss you."

"Who is that with you?" she asked, looking at me.

"That's Marty. He's a friend of mine. He's part of the team we're both in."

"A team?" She asked, curious.

"Yeah. Like a secret base" he laughed. "That no-one notices."

Noticing that she was still not on board, he stuck out his hand one bit at a time.

"What do you say? I promise we'll get you back to your folks."

She reached out to grab it, but a few centimetres before the contact, she asked Jack one very, _very_ last question.

"This team. What's it called?"

"You really want to know?" Jack asked her, standing up and leaning back towards me.

"Yes."

"Torchwood" he finished, before pulling me over quickly to the side of the walls.

Then, it happened.

The _second_ he had pulled me over to the side, "Alice" had burst into flame and was now screaming her head off for a few seconds, before collapsing into a pile of ashes.

It took longer than it should have for both of us to recover from the ordeal, before Jack asked "Are you alright?"

" _No_ , I'm not alright" I replied. "What the fuck _was_ that?"

"A phoenix" he answered, then noticed my horror-stricken face.

"A phoenix? Are you shitting me?" I asked him.

"Nope. Forget the Weevils, Marty. This is more serious."

"You don't say" I replied, before we heard a hissing sound coming from the ashes.

"The hell is that?" I asked, before Jack grabbed me close.

"The next stage" he replied with fear. "We need to leave, _now_."

"Don't have to tell me twice. Run?" I asked.

"Run" Jack replied, before we both did that back to the entrance. Then, the second we got to the car, we heard a loud boom coming from the sewers, followed by a plume of fire and smoke as it emanated from the grate.

"Get in! I'll start the car!" Jack yelled, before we swiftly drove back to the Hub, neither one of us saying anything until we got back, due to how scared shitless we were.

Breaking the silence, I said "So, that was a phoenix."

"Yes, it was" Jack replied, too stunned to say anything else.

"You want to… get a drink?" I asked, knowing that it would probably help with the concentration.

"Oh, yes, _please_ " he responded, before we ran down to Jack's office and he pulled out his favourite brew.

"1932 Chardonnay. Never thought I'd bring this one out for a _long_ time, but given what we've just seen, I think it's necessary."

"So, that really _was_ a phoenix?" I asked, in-between sips.

"Well, phoenix is _my_ nickname for them. No idea _what_ their species is, or even where they're from" Jack replied. "I just thought they were just a legend, but, apparently not."

"You've seen them before?"

"Only once, and even then I thought I was losing my mind."

"What happened?" I asked.

"In the early days of Torchwood, and I mean the _early_ days, cases weren't as common as they are now. One day, case comes in saying that a man, Ethan Lewis, spontaneously combusted, ran into a crowded area for no reason, then a few seconds later there was ash, followed by an explosion. Hardly anyone lived from it, except for him. See, because he was like a phoenix, he came back from the dead in the ashes, naked as a new-born.

This being the early days, we barely had any fire regulations, so when they tried to interrogate him to find out the cause, it happened again in a safe house. Barely got out of that one alive. But, because of that, it made me on edge about what sort of other aliens there were around Cardiff and the like."

"And, what happened to Ethan?" I asked, half wanting to not know the answer.

"We had to put him… more than 6 feet under" Jack answered, looking down.

"You buried him?" I asked as Jack nodded. "Alive?" Another nod. "Where?"

"Right under here" he pointed down.

"Under the base? Why? You just said he got the better of you."

"We… managed to tame him in the end."

"So, you caged him, and he's what? The central heating here?"

"More or less."

"More or less..." I muttered. "And how long have you been keeping an eye on him, then, just in case he tries to escape?"

"Every day. He's sealed in a chamber built specifically for his type, plus, all the pipes have been designed so that he can still get air, but he can't get out through the ashes. It's a secure secret, until now."

"And what about the girl we met down there? Alice?" I asked, getting up.

"Yeah."

"How the hell is _she_ one?" I asked.

"I don't _know_!" Jack roared. "We never..."

"Never what?" I asked.

"We never checked the family records, to see if it was hereditary."

"You mean, she might be a descendant?" I inquired, scared.

"Apparently. I should have gone and kept an eye on them all this time, but other issues came around, and I was putting it out of my mind. Marty, I'm sorry. I really didn't know this would happen."

"We can hug it out when this is over" I said. "And don't forget, you still need to help me with fixing the Tardis."

"I won't forget. I promise. Tell you what, we'll get a bite to eat, then we can find out how to manage this. Is that okay with you?"

"Fine" I replied. "What time is it anyway?"

"Actually, I don't know" Jack answered, looking at his watch. "Jesus, it's 25 to 11. I don't think anywhere will be open this late, never-mind serving. You want to order something instead?"

"Sure" I said, wanting to get this done as soon as possible, before I heard my stomach growl. "But first, I think all of the things we've seen today have made me a bit worse for wear, so, I'll be back soon. Don't order without me" I said, as I headed to the bathroom.

"Wouldn't dream of it" Jack called out, as I locked the door.

A few minutes later, after I had done my business, I walked back to where Jack was surrounded by menus on his desk.

"Ah, good. I've managed to get out as many as I could, so take your pick. I'm happy with anything you choose."

"You're not fussed?" I asked him.

"Not in the slightest. Now, come on."

"Alright" I said. "Chinese sounds like a safe bet. That ok with you?"

"Yeah. Stayed away from it due to other work, but if you're up for it, that's fine by me."

"Right, what is there?" I muttered, looking through it.

"Well, I think I'll go for a salted chilli chicken. What about you?" I asked Jack, handing it to him.

"I've always been a sweet and sour guy, so I'll stick with that" he replied, as he looked at the prices. "Ok. Well, that's £18.98 for the two of them. You want anything else with them?"

"2 boiled rice, if that's alright. Trying to watch my figure" I laughed.

"2 boiled rice. Ok. So, that's £20.35 for the lot. Now, we just need to order" Jack finished, as he picked up the phone and ordered.

"And now we wait" he said, after he finished the call and hung up. "It's gonna be about 20 minutes, so anything else you want to talk about, before it gets here?"

"Yes, actually" I replied, wanting more information. "How did you know Alice was a phoenix down there?"

Sighing, Jack asked "Are you sure you want to ask this question _now_?"

"Got nothing better to do" I replied, before we both sat down and he spoke.

"Alright. At first, I honestly didn't know if she was or not. I mean, it's a little girl. How can you think she's deadly?

But, as we spoke, I could literally see fire in her eyes, building like an inferno. That, combined with two things. One, when I went to take her hand, I could feel heat like nothing I had felt in years, just from that close contact. And two, when she asked what the team was. The fire was still raging in her eyes when she asked, and when I gave her the name, _that_ was her trigger. _That_ literally sparked the powder-keg and made her ignite.

So, yeah. _That_ made me realise that this wasn't over. Her message saying "Help me" was a definite trap to lure us down there. Probably would have worked, if I hadn't been so quick to notice."

"But she's still a child" I said. "Torchwood or not, she's unpredictable and needs to be taken care of."

"I know, but we can't stop her without burning in the process" Jack replied. "The last time we actually got Ethan, it took a whole team of us to capture him for good, and even then, there were casualties."

"What did you do to capture him?" I asked.

"We had to keep the guy away from any open flames, because they use fire like a defence, as well as an offence. Then again, being 19th century with gas and everything, it was as hard as you'd think to do it. Eventually, we had to expose him to a makeshift freezer with a bunch of ice blocks surrounding him on all sides, so he couldn't warm up at all. Then, it was a case of transporting him without going off the rails, so to speak."

"So, he's been down here all this time, and now we have to deal with his possible offspring" I glumly replied. "Oh, joy."

"Tell me about it. I'm trying to think of all our options" Jack paced. "If we let him go, not only will we have 2 of them to deal with, but more than likely Ethan will be out for my blood, and the young one will be just as confused, because she can't control herself.

On the other hand, if we capture Alice and put her together with him, we're bad people for doing that, basically having caged another creature like that."

"And we certainly can't put them down" I said, looking up at Jack's terrified face. "I mean, they're gonna keep coming back, as long as they're near fire. That, and we're basically committing murder to them. It's nothing we haven't done before, but for once, I'm actually scared if we _do_ have to off them."

"What about sending them to another planet?" I suggested. "Yeah, we don't know their species, but at least somewhere that's fitting to them. You must know _something_ about that."

"I've thought about that as well, but believe me, it's hard to narrow down your options, when the ones you have might make things worse" Jack responded. "I mean, we can't send them into the sun, because, again, murder, and the fact that they could absorb it and use it as a weapon against Earth."

"So, what _are_ the options, then?" I inquired to a long silence.

Eventually, Jack put his dead down and said "We may have to freeze them and bury them deep. For good, so that no-one ever disturbs them again."

"Freeze them? Are you sure?"

"It might be our only chance" he answered, taking a deep breath. "And I think I know where they can go."

"Where?"

"Certainly not Cardiff, I can tell you that" came his answer, as he pointed to a very specific place on his map.

Gasping, I cried out "Why? Why there?"

"It's either there, or they can keep on doing this for a long goddamn time."

"But it'll kill you, as well as them."

"That's why I'm doing this alone, after we collect her. We can eat, catch Alice, and then I'll take a look at the Tardis schematics. After that, I'm on my own mission" Jack replied, lifting his finger from where he had pointed.

It was at the middle of Antarctica, and he planned to turn the both of them into Jack Torrance.

The silence that had passed when he lifted the finger was broken by the doorbell ringing and the intercom buzzing.

"I guess dinner's here" I said, as Jack fished out the money from his wallet.

"You go and get the plates. I'll pay" he told me while he walked towards the door.

As I got what we needed and brought it back to the main table, Jack arrived with the food and placed it down in front of us.

"Bon appetite" I said, as we began to eat in silence.

When we had finished and put everything away, I asked "How are we doing this, then? Capturing Alice?"

"We need to get her unconscious to transport her here" Jack replied, "And even then, that's going to be a nightmare."

"You said you used ice blocks the last time" I replied.

"That… wasn't the only thing we used."

"Then what?" I asked.

"There was a guy on our original team, German, by the name of Victor Schade, who came up with a type of suit to help fight the heat when we captured Ethan. It was like an early fire-fighter's suit, only a lot more improvised."

"So, we just need to call the fire brigade for backup. Seems easy enough" I replied, before looking at Jack's concerned face. "What's wrong?"

"The fire brigade _can_ help, but one of us, namely myself, has to go into with them and give her the syringe to neutralise her abilities and keep her knocked out" Jack answered. "Which means, I need to be a little discrete with how I relay what she is."

"Just say we're dealing with a pyromaniac, and we need all the help we can get" I responded. "If she's still where we left her, we've got nothing to worry about."

"That's if she hasn't moved on to somewhere else" Jack said. "The drug won't take long to make, but because of what we're dealing with, I need you to stay way behind when the firemen are doing their job."

"I know. I got burned once before, and it hurt like hell" I told him, not mentioning where or when it was. "Luckily, the Doctor had some nanogenes aboard the Tardis, so my hands got repaired quickly."

"Wait, you know about nanogenes already?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. I still haven't met the younger version of you yet, so, _that'll_ be fun" I replied. "But we're getting off track. If we go back to the last place Alice was, with additional support, we'll get her, right?"

"Right. After that, we just need to take her back here until I can sort out transport to their final destination" Jack finished. "I just need about 20 minutes to get the drug ready, then we're off."

"Make a few of them, just to be sure" I said, as he walked off towards the lab. "We don't want to have just one dose and it breaking."

"Will do. Get a new set of clothes on. You'll need them."

"Alright" I replied, and walked back to get changed out of my now slightly singed clothes, into a green and black t-shirt with a black jacket covering them.

I then removed my gun from where I'd kept it, put it back in my rucksack with the safety on, along with the clips I had brought, and walked back to Jack, who was nearly finished making the drug.

"What's the progress?" I asked him, as he lifted a dropper.

"Nearly done. Managed to get about 10 doses, just in case of difficulties. Now, we just need to get them into the car, call the fire-fighters and finish this. Hand me the case behind you" Jack said, nodding at a silver briefcase that was on a shelf behind me.

Handing it to him, he opened it and I saw the slots for the syringe and the doses where they could go.

He carefully placed them in to their berths, before closing the case shut and holding it by the handle.

"This is the easy part done" I said. "Now, we get this on the road."

"That, we do" Jack said. "Come on. Back to the car."

And we went back to the car-park, entered the car and drove back where we came.

As Jack was the one driving, I had to call the fire brigade.

"Use my phone" Jack said, pointing to the glove compartment. "It means that it won't show up on your call history."

Taking it out and calling the emergency services, I heard the operator ask "What service do you require?"

I answered "Fire brigade, at the Brecon Beacons National Park." Hoping they hadn't hung up yet, I continued "This is Torchwood. We're dealing with a pyromaniac and need support."

A few seconds of silence passed before the operator replied "Thank you, sir. Your request has been accepted" before they ended the call.

"So" Jack said, as we approached the National Park again. "Are we in luck?"

"Only one way to find out" I replied. "Hopefully, because it's us, they'll know we're not sending them on a wild goose chase."

"I hope so. It's either this, or nothing."

Thankfully, by the time we arrived at the last spot we were at, we could hear the sirens of what sounded like multiple fire engines approaching us.

"Wow. They're really going all out here" I said, as 5 fire engines approached our location.

"I said we needed help, and we're getting help" Jack replied, getting out of the car. "Let me talk to them and explain the situation. Stay in the car, and don't follow."

"After what happened earlier, I wouldn't even dream of following" I told him. "Don't forget the case."

"I'll come back for it when I've explained to them. Don't worry. It'll be fine."

As I watched Jack in the wing mirror talk to the firemen who had arrived, I couldn't help but feel sad for what we were about to do to Alice. Again, she was only a child who couldn't control her abilities, but what else could we do? Her abilities would be used as a weapon anyway. She, and Ethan needed to be contained, at all costs.

I was brought out of my reflective state by Jack coming back to check on me. He had put on a spare suit the fire-fighters brought and carried the case in his hand.

"You ok?" he asked through the mask.

"I will be" I replied. "Did you tell them?"

"Yeah. We're going down there in a few minutes. Keep track of the time. I promise this will be over quickly."

"I will. Godspeed, Jack."

"Thanks, Marty. See you soon."

"See you" I finished, as Jack ran over to the fire engines, who had their hoses unrolled completely and were about to be carried into the sewer.

As soon as the firemen were ready, they descended quickly down the ladder, with Jack leading the way.

30 seconds later, I saw the men get a signal and turned all of the hoses on, effectively blasting out all the water they could into the sewer, and hopefully, towards Alice.

I watched all of this in a still manner, waiting for the men who had gone to come back up along with Jack and Alice.

5 minutes passed, before I heard sounds of the water being turned off and something coming back up the sewer.

"Stay in the car and don't get out to look" I said to myself. "If that's her, you're fucking dead. If it's not, you've nothing to fear."

I waited for a few more seconds, before I looked away from the sewer and back to the fire engines, still with their teams alongside them.

I looked back, and nearly jumped in my seat at what I saw.

Jack had survived, alright. So had Alice, as he was now holding her in his arms. There was one big difference, however, than when he had went in.

She was soaking wet, unconscious and healthy. He now looked like Freddy Krueger, only instead of Freddy's signature getup, Jack's attire was his melted suit, draped across him like a makeshift toga, and the mask being shattered and leaving a bloody mosaic.

He shuffled slowly towards the boot of the car, wincing, and I saw that his shoes had been burnt into nothing, leaving him to rely on barefoot.

I quickly got out of the car, and opened the boot so that Alice could be placed in there.

"Here… you… go…" Jack said quietly as he inched his way towards me and I lifted Alice from him."

"What happened?" I asked as I put Alice in the back as carefully as I could.

"Explain… later…" Jack replied, attempting to point his finger at his throat, which had a few shards of glass in it. The fire, not to mention the glass, had messed his voice up, leaving him to rasp in its place.

"Is everyone ok?" I asked, before I saw Jack's face painfully contort into a mixed expression.

"No...one...dead..."

"Well, that's good at least. You want to get in the back?" I asked him as I opened the door for him and lifted him up delicately.

"Yes..."

I buckled Jack in tight so he couldn't move a bit off the seat, closed the door and then got into the driver's seat.

"Hold on" I said to Jack, as I started the car and drove it back to the base, then left him in the car as we stopped back in the car park.

"I'll be back soon" I told him as I opened my door and got out. "I'm just getting a wheelchair for you, and then we can sort out Alice."

"Fine..." Jack wheezed as I sprinted down, got a wheelchair from a storage cupboard and brought it back up to him before lowering him down gently.

"Glass...out..." Jack said, wanting me to remove it.

"In a minute. I'll get you out to the sickbay and remove it" I replied, wheeling him away down the corridor then lifting him up onto the table there.

"Thank God I've got steady hands" I said, getting a pair of tweezers out, "Otherwise, I'd end up making you look like the Joker."

Looking at Jack's face, I could tell he really didn't like that joke.

Piece by piece, the shards of glass were removed from his face and, after getting scissors to get rid of his suit, he was more or less the Jack I knew, only, like a lot of times before, he was nude.

"So, how do you want to do this?" I cautiously asked him, as he slowly recovered. "Gunshot, strangulation, or what?"

"Gun… head..."

"You sure?" I asked him, trying not to cry.

"Yeah..."

I turned away to get my pistol from my bag, before I heard Jack whisper "Don't… worry..."

"I'll try" I said, as I went back to my bag, lifted out the pistol and brought it back to Jack.

"You ready?" I asked, aiming the barrel at his head.

"Do… it..."

I squeezed the trigger, and the silent gunshot popped through Jack's skull, before the shell clattered to the ground, followed by Jack's body.

I knew that I had to wait a few minutes, before he "recovered", so I stayed by his side when he woke up, screaming as his skin repaired layer by layer and he became the man I knew.

"Easy" I said, as he caught his breath and slowly getting up. "Are you ok now?"

"As ok as I can be. I'm sorry to put you through that again. I know how hard this is for both of us."

"I know" I replied. "Just as well I _was_ here, otherwise you'd be in a worse off situation."

"I second that" Jack said, as he walked to get changed. "I'll get Alice sorted out, then I'll fill you in on what happened down there. Alright?"

"Alright. Is she ok, though?" I asked Jack, looking away from him getting dressed.

"Alice? Yeah. She's out for the count. Probably still will be, for a few more hours. That drug I gave her took her down like an elephant, so by the time she recovers, we'll be safe."

"Thank God" I said, as Jack finished. "You want to get her, then?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna take her down to where Ethan is, but not before I knock him out as well. Don't want him escaping and making this even worse than it is."

"How are you gonna do that? Gas?" I asked.

"Correct. Mix it into his air supply, and he'll be out like a light."

"Ok. I'll get Alice, you make him sleep" I said, walking back down to where the car was parked and opened the boot.

"Alright, Jean Grey" I said to Alice, as I lifted her out of the car, "Time to meet your family."

Hefting her over my shoulder like a hunting trophy, I made my way out of the car park and over to Jack, who was waiting near an open door.

"I'll take her from here" he said, as we exchanged Alice.

"I take it Ethan won't be a problem?" I asked.

"Not even close. A few puffs of the gas, and he's out."

"So, that's nearly it over" I said.

"Nearly. Just need to take care of the Firestarter, and that's our problems almost sorted. See you in a bit" Jack said, closing the door behind him.

Going back to where my clothes were, I remembered that I had left my flash drive under my pillow and lifted it out.

"To think, you were half the reason I came back here" I chuckled, before palming it and then getting up to put it in the computer.

Just as I was about to sit down, Jack stood there in the doorway.

"You ready to know what happened?" he asked, as I did so.

"How was Little Miss Sunshine?" I asked first.

"No complaints, I can tell you that. They're both unconscious, so that's a good thing. It'll take a few hours for the drug to wear off, but by then, it'll be a whole new location for them."

"I can't say I agree with the methods, but at least they'll be contained somewhere else" I replied, before asking "You wanted to talk about the sewer? Yeah, go ahead."

"Well", he began, "The firemen followed me to the last place we'd seen Alice, only she was seemingly no-where to be found. Suddenly, she appears behind us, and I instantly gave the orders for all of the trucks to blast her with all the water they could.

She ran away from them as fast as she could, all the while the water was chasing her, until we got her cornered in another tunnel, and she tried doing what she did to us.

During this time, however, I managed to get in close, right as she ignited and although she burnt me and made me what you saw, I had taken out 3 doses of the drug and jammed them into her neck, preventing her from becoming ash and then giving an explosion.

The only reason the water didn't stop spraying until a few minutes later was because they were trying to put me out and minimise the burning. I think it must have been her abilities that prevented them from doing it, though. Because the more I got sprayed with water, the dryer I became as a result.

Thankfully, no-one died from that, because of me acting quickly, but before I went in with them, I told them to report afterwards that there had indeed been a pyromaniac present, but that it was under Torchwood's jurisdiction to recover her.

God knows what those men are going through, but at least everyone's safe as a result of that" he finished.

"Oh, my God" I replied. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. No. I'm sorry _we_ had to go through that. You, with the brunt of it, and then me, having to clean you up again. It reminds me that this isn't fun for the most part. I mean, yeah, we have fun occasionally, but then there's this, and it makes me scared for others."

Jack then pulled me close, and said "I know, Marty. I know. But that's what happens to people like us. We have to take care of aliens when the Doctor's not there to help, no matter the cost. I know it's scary, but that's life."

"And this was going so well, too" I said, before I opened my hand and Jack saw the flash drive.

"Is that it?" he asked, as I turned the computer on. "Is that the flash drive you were on about?

"Yes, it is" I answered when the computer loaded up and I entered the password. "Haven't had a look at it yet, but now that you're here, we can look together."

"Alright. What's going on with you?" I asked out loud, as I inserted the flash drive into the computer and it loaded up after 30 seconds. "What exactly makes you tick?"

"You might want to make us some coffee" I said to Jack as I was about to click on the folder that came up, labelled "TARDIS Manual". "If not, something stronger. We might be here for a while."

"On it. Don't start without me" he replied, disappearing into the kitchen.

5 minutes later, the countdown was about to begin, both of us coffee mugs in hand.

"Here we go" I said, as the mouse hovered over the folder. "3, 2, 1."

Opening it, we both were entranced at the schematics that we were seeing of the Tardis' interior and system that it used. So many pictures, sketches and architectural designs filled the screen, we could hardly focus on one at a time.

"Holy shit" I said, as we gazed over every detail the Tardis had in store. "This… This is amazing."

The lack of speech had clearly affected Jack as well. He was staring agape at what was in front of him, rarely drinking at all, but still invested in it.

"Wow. So, this is what she's hiding all this time?" he asked at last.

"Apparently" I laughed. "I honestly have no idea how long it'll take me to go over it, even _with_ your help."

"Well, it's a start at least" Jack replied. "At least now, we know fully what the literal ins and outs of the Tardis are. The only thing now is, how do we construct a possible voice for her, without making it worse for everyone?"

"She's bound to have a section about this" I figured. "Why else would she ask me about it?"

"I guess. If we start tomorrow on this, we'll be progressing slowly towards it."

"What about the two molotovs in storage?" I asked.

"If you're planning to stay for a few more days, and if less of _that_ happens, we can do that first, then take care of those two at a later time. Or, we can take a bit of time off tomorrow and do some shopping, if you prefer."

"After all of tonight's antics, yeah, I'm ready for a little break" I replied. "I think I'm gonna call it a night, and rest up. Tomorrow, I'll go shopping like you said, and then, later, we'll sort out the Tardis. You okay with that?"

"Alright. Remember to turn the computer off before you go to sleep. I don't want the electric bill to be any worse than it already is."

"Don't worry. I will. Goodnight" I said, as Jack walked away with both mugs and the constant tired look on his face.

"Goodnight" he replied, as I closed the door behind him.

"Well, _this_ was fun" I muttered, as I turned the computer off, put the flash drive in a drawer in the desk and lay down on my bed. "Can't wait for tomorrow to be here."

Before I went to sleep, I laughed. "Can't wait to try and explain this to the Doctor."

I fell asleep a few minutes later, my thoughts still of what had happened.

What seemed like more hours than it seemed passed before I awoke again, this time full of more energy than usual.

"Jack, are you in the kitchen again?" I asked, getting up from my bed and walking towards it.

"Yeah. Making breakfast" he replied. "Anything you want?"

I was about to answer "toast", but gave it a second thought.

Instead, I answered "No. Just porridge, if you have any. I'd prefer it cold."

"Porridge? That's not like you, but ok..." he said, opening the cupboard for me and taking the porridge out. "Why that choice?"

"I just don't want to think about anything warm or piping hot for a few days" I answered, as I got everything prepared. "Especially what we've done last night."

"Yeah. No arguments there" Jack replied. "I'm just having cereal, mainly for fibre, but I'm with you on that. I don't think it's gonna be easy to forget about that for a while. Hence the break for a few days."

"That is, unless something else decides to show its head, or heads" I replied as I sat down to start eating. "We don't want a repeat of that fucking hydra thing. What was it again? I remember it being German, at least. The dragon something..."

"The _mehrere drachen_ " Jack finished. "Multiple dragon. Yeah. That was a right bitch to put down. And even _then_ , I had to use fire."

"And that was only on the necks, too" I continued, as I talked between spoonfuls. "No wonder there was Cthulu written all over that thing. By the time we were done, it looked like it belonged in art gallery. No idea _what_ art gallery, but a gallery all the same."

"Anyway" Jack said, trying to steer the conversation away, "As long as nothing _our_ level of bad happens we'll be fine. We just act normal, and hopefully, _hopefully_ , this will be a good day. Alright? If we see something like that, we'll do it as quick as we can, then disappear."

"Ok. I'm _all_ for that" I responded. "A normal day is just what we need. We can finish breakfast, then go out somewhere, and put yesterday behind us."

"Exactly. Judging by what's left in your bowl, I'd say we're almost there" Jack laughed, pointing to what remains there were in it.

"What? I… Oh" I muttered, before looking at the bowl. "I was wondering why I was only tasting air."

"It messed you up that much, huh?" Jack joked, before we both finished and tidied up.

20 minutes later, after we'd both got dressed, we made our way over to the car, which, thanks to my driving, was still in one piece.

We were both amazed and laughed as we got in.

"You've not touched this for a year, and somehow it's a miracle it's not in pieces" Jack smiled, starting it up.

"Honestly, yeah. I don't know either" I chuckled, agreeing. "I mean, it was one thing to get back in it and drive "normally", but when you've got 2 passengers with you, one of which is barely coherent and the other who's non-agreeable, that tends to drive you further, no pun intended."

"So, you want to head anywhere, then?" Jack inquired as we slowly progressed from the base. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Well, I don't want clothes, because I think the Tardis has that sorted" I replied. "Really, the only thing I can think of, aside from getting something to eat, are DVDs and a few books. I feel like having another binging spree when we go back."

"Depending on what you get, I may or may not be joining you."

"Why?" I asked. "You're not still pissed at me bringing you to Saw, are you?"

"No, not _that_ , although I've got my own reasons against Saw and that sort of thing."

"Then, what?"

"I don't know. I think that even with you gone, it doesn't seem as great to share stories with anyone. I mean, there's hardly anyone here who's got the same experiences as us, and who can help me in a team. I think _that's_ what we're missing here."

"Give it time, then we'll see" I told him as we approached the shopping centre in Cardiff. "You may find it to be better in the future."

"I hope you're right. I just wish it would come soon" Jack finished, as we parked and began our process.

4 hours later, we left and came back "home" after all the shopping had been done.

"I think we're gonna need a bigger car" Jack muttered, as we heaved our bags out.

"Sorry for going on a crazy spender" I replied with a smile. "But at least we're sorted for a few more days."

"Days? More like months. I mean, I know this is a bunker, essentially, but that's ridiculous."

"I'd rather be better prepared and rational than scared and confused" I reasoned. "I mean, with what I went through, and what you taught me, impulse isn't the way to go."

"True. Hey, when we've finished unloading, and after I've looked at our inmates, you want to look at the Tardis schematics again?" Jack asked while we emptied everything out.

"Maybe later. I want to watch Serenity first" I answered. "Although, I could use a refresher on Firefly, if you want to join me."

"I'll think about it" Jack replied, walking to the door before turning round. "Actually, if you want, I could take a look at them and you watch the movie? Just so you're not going through a lot of work by yourself."

"You sure?" I inquired. "No offence, but I think it's more complicated than it looks."

"I've been in the Tardis more than you have. I'll be fine" Jack chuckled. "That, and if/when I can find the section about her voice, I can scrounge up the materials required."

Reading my confused face, he said "I've still got contacts in other Torchwood places. I'll say I'm running an off the books operation."

Thinking for a second, he continued "Then again, it's _all_ off the books here, so it's a little redundant."

"Oh well" he finished. "Time to check in on the others. See you later."

"See you" I told him, as he made his way back to the containment.

"Might as well make myself comfortable" I said, taking out the Serenity DVD and putting it in the TV.

"Alright, Mr. Whedon. Impress me again" I said, pressing play.

"Goddamnit. God fucking damn it" I said, crying afterwards.

"Marty?" Jack's voice called out. "Are you alright?"

"A little" I yelled back, tears still in my vision. "Serenity's over, but I'm trying to process it."

"You want me to come over there?"

"No. I think I'm good" I answered, getting up slowly.

Wiping my eyes and taking out the disk, I walked over to Jack, who was on the computer and still looking over the Tardis plans.

"So, how are you doing?" I asked him, glancing over his shoulder.

Turning around, he replied "Both of our guests have woken up, and they're the usual aggravated people we know and "love". On the subject of the Tardis, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is I think I've found the section to do this properly. The bad news is that this might take longer than possible if the Tardis wants you to do this quickly."

"Shit" I said. "Alright. How long do you think it'll take to do it?"

"A few weeks, maybe. Possibly more. It depends on when the parts will come here."

"Fuck" I muttered, pacing, before thinking. "Wait. You said you had been on the Tardis longer than I had, right?"

"Yeah..." Jack replied, confused. "Why?"

"When did you arrive in the Tardis? The last time the Tardis landed here with you in it."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I can go with the Doctor until it comes here with the young version of you. Then, all I need to do is pick up the finished product from you and install it there."

"That's actually a good plan, if not a risky one. Ok, let me think" Jack recalled. "Umm" he said, looking at his calender on the wall. "June, I think. Yeah. It was June the 4th, because that's when we had to refuel on the rift."

"Good. Now, if we can start on this now, and I head out tomorrow, you can do it and call me when you're finished."

"Really? You sure you want to go tomorrow?" Jack asked sadly.

"Why? You miss me already?" I laughed, looking at him.

"I just thought you'd want to stay longer than a few days."

"Yeah, but I told the Doctor a few days, and I'm not gonna deny him that. Plus, Rose wanted to see her dad before he died and I didn't want to get in the way."

"Oh, shit. I didn't know. You never said."

"You never asked" I replied. "I told her about my dad and how even the least amount of time was enough for me to be happy. She wanted to go back to the day he died, but me being me, wanted to be with you instead."

"Aww, thanks. You shouldn't have."

"My pleasure. Now, have you got the instructions on screen?" I asked, pointing.

"Yep. Here you go" Jack sad, leaning away so I could see.

"Well, this doesn't look so bad" I muttered, looking at the diagram.

"That's only page 1 of this."

"Out of what?"

"40-50 I think."

"40-50 pages, just for this one section?" I asked in disbelief. "Fucking hell."

"My thoughts exactly. You _sure_ you want to start this?" Jack said, cracking up a little.

"Why not? It's a combo of a giant puzzle, and a big LEGO set" I answered. "I'll go get more drinks. God knows we'll need them."

"Get me a Coke" Jack shouted, as I fetched them.

"Alright. Let's get started" I said, bringing back our drinks and throwing his to him.

Hours went by as we started work on what we both thought would be our biggest project. It was a case of making sure we had the right tools for the job first of all, then cutting the materials down to the right size.

By the time we had made some form of progress, we both realised what time it was.

Rubbing his eyes, Jack looked at his clock.

"Is that..." he squinted. "Holy shit. We've been here for 10 hours."

"I guess time flies when you're having fun" I said.

"Does 1/20th of the work look fun to you?" Jack asked, moving his arms about at what we were swamped in.

"Yeah. Ok. I'm sorry" I replied. "I just didn't think we'd be here for this long."

"Me neither. What do you say we call it quits for now? I promise I'll get busy with continuing it, right after I sort out the other problem."

"As long as you do it quick" I said. "Something tells me those two aren't sunshine and rainbows."

"Just leave it all to me. If you want to go to sleep now, I'll understand. We've both worked hard, and you want to get back to the Doctor."

"Fine" I said, yawning loudly and getting up, before asking "Hey, you know what the number is for the Tardis? Just so I'm not using your phone to call him."

"I think I have it saved on one of them" Jack muttered, opening his drawer, spilling out numerous makes and models of phones.

"It might take me a while to go through them" he said, fishing the pile. "Luckily, I don't sleep, so at least there's that to help me."

"Just give me the number when I wake up" I murmured, walking to my bed. "I'll call him when I'm up and ready."

"Will do. Goodnight."

"Goodnight" I weakly responded, before collapsing on my bed and going straight to sleep.

The next morning, or as close as I could get to the morning after being through an all-nighter, I woke up and sorted out my clothes.

Switching out my old attire for an AC/DC t-shirt with tracksuit bottoms, I walked over to the kitchen again.

This time, Jack wasn't in sight.

"Jack? You there?" I yelled.

"I'm in here" he called from his office.

" _The fuck?"_ I thought, walking towards it.

Pushing the door open, my eyes widened to see Jack still working on the phones, the sea of them nearly complete.

"You found that number yet?" I asked, trying to contain my laughter.

"Almost. Just a few more" Jack replied weakly.

"Any time today" I said, crossing my arms.

At last, Jack held up the last phone in his drawer like he was He-Man and said "Yes. Thank you, God."

"You got the number?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. Here. Give me yours" he gestured, as I tossed mine over to him.

In a few seconds, he had entered the Tardis' number onto it and gave me it back.

"Is that it?" I asked.

"Yep. Just let me get dressed and I'll take you back to where you arrived. Remember to let him know, though."

"I'll tell him now, if you want. It'll take us the same amount of time to get back there."

"Ok. See you in a few."

"Alright" I replied, as I dialled the Tardis' phone and waited for it to pick up.

"Hello. Who's this?" The Doctor asked, picking up.

"Doctor, it's me" I answered, to the sound of silence. "I've finished the job my contact wanted me to do. I'll be back where you left me soon if you want to pick me up."

I didn't hear anything for a few seconds, until the Doctor spoke again.

"Alright. Good. See you then. Bye."

"Bye" I said, hanging up.

"Any luck?" Jack asked, approaching me in his new clothes.

"Yeah. He's coming. But he sounded weird, Jack."

"How weird?"

"Distant, I guess. Well, even more distant than normal."

"You think it's to do with Rose?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure if I should ask him or not."

"I'm my experience, sometimes it's better for them to get over it gradually than for you to be told outright."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Positive."

"If that's what you think."

"It is" he finished, before gesturing to my stuff. "You'd better get your things together so I can take you back there. Better not tip him off about being here, especially with our timeline."

"On it. Be back soon."

And with that, I rushed off to my bag and heaved it onto my back, clothes and all packed into it.

Moving back towards Jack, I looked up at him.

"You all packed?" he asked.

"Yep. This has been, an...eventful set of days."

"That they have, and hopefully it'll be better when they're behind us."

"No complaints there. Come on" I said. "Back to the chaos."

"Which version?"

"The Doctor's" I laughed, as we walked to the car.

"How about some music this time?" Jack asked, as he started it up. "It's better than our dead air."

"Sure. Radio or CD?" I asked.

"Radio. Why not?"

With that, I turned the radio on and turned to one of the local stations.

Immediately, we heard the sound of the Doors in the middle of one of their songs that, now thanks to recent affairs, was more poignant than we wanted.

"… _._ _if I was to say to you, girl we couldn't get much higher. Come on baby, light my fire."_

With that, we both looked at each other in a silent acknowledgment.

"That has to be a fluke, right?" I asked, Jack, who was equally scared of that timing.

"Y-Yeah. Turn something else on" he suggested.

Switching to another station, we were treated to yet another song choice like that, where the mood _really_ didn't juxtapose well.

" _Looking for some hot stuff, baby, this evening. I need some hot stuff..."_

"One more try?" I asked, as I cut it off.

"Third time's the charm" Jack replied.

Changing the radio once more, neither of us were surprised when it belted out Elvis to complete the trinity.

"' _Cause your kisses lift me higher, like the sweet song of a choir. And you light my morning sky with burning love."_

"Ok, now it's just fucking with us" I said, turning it off completely. "Either that, or we've got the worst luck ever."

"Radio silence it is then" Jack agreed, as we arrived at where he had picked me up in the first place.

Getting out of the car, I took out my bag and went over to Jack, who almost looked sad to see me go.

"What's the matter?" I asked him. "I'm coming back."

"I know. I just think it's weird to do this, but in a good way."

"Well, I wouldn't want to have it any other way" I replied, giving him a hug.

As we broke apart, I said "You should probably get going, before you're spotted."

"I'll be fine. I'll watch from a distance, so you're not out of sight."

"It's not my sight I'm worried about" I said. "It's the Doctor's. I told you before. We still haven't met the young you, so if he sees you now, it'll fuck up the space-time continuum."

"Good point. I'll see you around, Marty. One way, or another."

"And I, you, Mr. Harkness. And I, you."

As he got back into his car and drove off, I walked back to the same spot the Doctor dropped me off, I called him again.

When he picked up, I spoke.

"Doctor, I'm back in the spot you left me at. I'll wait for you landing."

"You know I can have the Tardis appear around you, right?"

"Yeah, but I prefer to open the door than have it like that, if that's ok with you."

"Alright. Give me space and I'll be there. See you in a bit."

"See you" I said, hanging up.

I didn't have to wait long before the Tardis arrived in front of me. I mean, the wind and sound, combined with the flashing visual of it? Nothing out of the ordinary, at least to me.

Once it landed and stopped moving, I took out Jack's key and opened the door.

"Did you miss me?" I asked, as I saw the twin faces of the Doctor and Rose standing around the Tardis console.

"Maybe" the former said, as I closed the door behind me and walked towards them. "Come here. Rose wants to give you something."

"What is it?" I asked, putting my bag down.

The answer I got was her giving me a massive hug and the only spoken words being "Thank you for that."

"What did I do?" I said to Rose, as we separated.

The Doctor replied "You were right about her needing to spend time with her dad. She… interfered with time, but she was there with him in his last moments."

"Are you alright now?" I asked her.

"I'm not really sure. I mean, I think I've got closure for it, but it'll take a while to recover from it" she answered, still a bit shaky.

"So, what was he like?" I wondered.

"He.. he was nice" Rose continued slowly. "A bit of a wild inventor, but kind all the same. In the end, after finally knowing who I was, he made the choice to help us. I'm sorry" she said, as tears decided to well up. "I think I need a bit more time to process it."

"We're in a time machine" I replied, jokingly. "Go ahead. Vent it out. Take all the literal time you need."

Rose gave me another hug, laughing a bit.

"I don't know what I'd do without you two" she said, after a while. "I mean, the two of you helped to talk me into it, and I feel better now. I think I need a bit of space, though" she said, getting up and walking away. "I'll be back when I'm completely good. Talk to you later."

"Alright" I told her vanishing figure, before turning to the Doctor.

"So, how bad was it?" I asked. "I didn't want to say anything with Rose being here, but..."

"You were curious" the Doctor replied. "Humans are always like that, you can't always help it."

"You think we're bad, just remember what it did to the cat" I responded.

After a while, the Doctor said "She... _we_ watched it happen in front of us and did nothing to stop it. Then, we went back and she saved him, causing a paradox."

"How big a paradox are we talking?" I asked.

"Big enough to make the Tardis "normal" and letting the Reapers through" he answered.

"Reapers, as in the grim reaper?" I asked, scared.

"More or less. Only instead of souls, they repair paradoxes, by acting as the cleaners. They don't disappear until either they "fix" the problem by killing everyone, or until it gets sorted by itself. Thanks to Rose, and her dad, it did, and she waited by his side until the ambulances arrived. After that, we came back here and I helped her get her grievance out until you called."

"Is that why you sounded a bit distant?" I asked.

"Yeah. I was still processing it as well, so I needed to gee myself up a bit before getting you. Then, I called Rose over here and told her to thank you for your advice."

"Glad I could help" I said, getting my bag.

"By the way, how did your job go?" the Doctor asked, folding his arms. "I'm pretty sure it was better than our adventure."

"Let's just say things got pretty... heated doing it" I replied, wanting to put it behind me. "I mean, it was fun, but I realised that I'd have better fun and adventures with you than anything else."

"You'd rather be with me than being stuck on Earth?" he asked, perplexed.

"I mean, you _did_ say you'd help me out until my problem was fixed" I answered, reminding him. "That, and I know about you and UNIT. You weren't exactly the happy go lucky type there either."

"You really think you know a lot about me" came the Doctor's amazed reply, before nodding his head. "Guess I _have_ been around a lot."

"More than you know" I said, walking towards my room. "Talk to you later."

"Until then" the Doctor called back.

Opening the door to my room and taking in the surroundings again, I couldn't help but say "Honey, I'm home."

" _I can't remember ever hearing you call me honey"_ the Tardis told me, as I closed the door behind me and threw my bag onto a chair. _"Nor do I approve of lateness when tasks are to be performed on time. Speaking of which, how goes the progress towards my upgrade?"_

"Well, we both looked at the schematics" I said, sitting down on my bed. "And it turns out you have secrets that we never even dreamed about."

" _Only focus on what I asked you to"_ she hissed at me. _"Do not deviate, or I **will** tell the Doctor."_

"Alright. Alright. Keep your hair on" I said, as she nearly assaulted my mind. "Anyway, it turns out that it may take longer than expected to complete the speech option."

" _How long?"_

"A few months?" I asked, nervously, waiting for her to be vicious in her approach.

Instead, she was calm, and that made me really scared of her.

" _I see. And how exactly do you intend on getting this past the Doctor?"_

"As I told Jack" I said, "I just need to travel with the younger version of him until you need to refuel on the Cardiff Rift. Then, it's just a case of picking it up from the older version. There. Satisfied?"

" _Smart thinking, for a human."_

"Oi, watch it" I warned her. "I could ask him to find out how to make you less hostile."

" _Now, you don't want **that** " _she almost seemed to purr. _"Hostility is how I survived with the Doctor for so long. You really want to get rid of that and put me back to my factory settings?"_

"We'll see" I told her. "All it takes is you pushing me over the edge just the right amount at the right time. It's only a matter of when."

" _So. It appears we have another stalemate here. I can't do anything to you, lest you or the Doctor fight back, and you can't do anything to me, or the Doctor will know about your life, and how many secrets you've kept from him."_

"I've been faced with a lot of stalemates for the last few years" I said, indignantly. "I'm not going to let another one stop me now."

" _Then, I guess we have no further discussion to talk about"_ the Tardis finished, before I was left with my own thoughts.

"The things I do to keep living" I muttered, before sorting out my clothes, weapon and ammo, and getting back into bed.

"One more day at a time" I muttered, before I fell asleep, still mad at the Tardis and how I could try and keep this up.

"One more day…."

 **AN 2- Well, this was a great adventure, wasn't it? Hopefully, things will be more settled in the future, or should I say past?**

 **Yep, because next chapter we head back in time to WW2, where, yes, it's Jack when he was mortal, and yes, he's still a wise-ass, but that's not what the problem will be.**

 **You see, it's not just knowing about Jack's future is like. It's making sure that nothing is changed to make it worse for him and Marty, as well as the Doctor and Rose.**

 **Hopefully, _hopefully_ , I can get both parts of this time period done quickly before next week. I'm making it a plan to finish series 1 before Christmas. If I don't, well, that's why the PMs are there, so you can yell at me all you want. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

 **Until then, take care all, and I'll speak to you again before long.**


	12. Hush, Hush, Hush

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 12- Hush, Hush, Hush**

 **A/N 1- Well, didn't think I'd be able to get this one done so quickly. Even with the fact that I watched Punisher and got Pokemon, I'm impressed with myself. Now, I need to get the next part done just as fast, and I'll be good for a few more days.**

 **In the last chapter, there was a lot of heat, both figuratively and literally, and that shook up the dynamics for the Tardis and Marty, and Jack and Marty's friendship.**

 **This chapter, let's see what happens if Marty can keep himself in control...**

This time, when I woke up, it wasn't the Tardis nudging me awake, nor was it landing.

No. This time, it was the Doctor's crazy antics and the lack of control over the Tardis.

"Ok. Ok. I'm up!" I yelled, getting changed quickly into a grey shirt with a brown coat over it. "I'm coming!"

As I rushed towards the console to confront the Doctor, I bumped into Rose who had changed into a Union Jack t-shirt, and we both had the same question on our minds.

"What's the emergency?" we asked in unison.

"It's mauve" the Doctor answered.

"Mauve?" we asked again, as the Tardis shuddered around us.

"Universally recognised colour for danger" came the Doctor's reply.

"So, what happened to red?" I asked.

"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp" the Doctor said. "Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing."

Pointing to the screen, he continued "It's got a very basic flight pattern. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where-ever it goes, we go."

"And that's safe, is it?" Rose asked in fear.

"Totally" the Doctor replied, flicking a switch on the console that unleashed a torrent of sparks to fly out.

"Ok, reasonably. Should have said "reasonably" there" he said, jumping a little.

"It's getting away!" I yelled, as we watched it disappear into the Time Vortex.

"It's jumping time tracks, getting away from the Tardis" the Doctor panicked.

"What exactly is this thing?" Rose demanded.

"No idea."

"Then _why_ are we chasing it?" Rose asked.

"It's mauve and dangerous, and about 30 seconds from the centre of London" the Doctor finished, as we kept close behind its descent.

Once we had all recovered, the Doctor managed to get us landed somewhere safe.

"You know how long you can knock about space without bumping into Earth?" the Doctor asked, opening the door for us.

"5 days, or is that just when we're out of milk?" Rose asked.

"All the species in the universe and it comes out of a cow" the Doctor pondered.

I looked around at where we had landed.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"I told you. London" the Doctor answered.

"Ok. How about _when_?" I asked. "I mean, we don't know what time period we're in, so I'm a little bit cautious about the whole thing."

"Don't worry" he said, putting his arm around me. "The sooner we find this and sort it out, the better this will be."

Thinking, the Doctor continued. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

"Well, that's comforting" I said, locking the door behind me and walking towards them.

Rose shared my sentiment, and asked "A _month_? We were right behind it."

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place" the Doctor protested. "We're bound to be a little out."

"Do you want to drive?" he asked the both of us.

"Maybe" I smiled, while Rose asked "How much is a little?"

"A bit."

"Is that exactly a bit?" I asked.

"Ish."

"So, what's the plan, then?" Rose inquired. "You going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

"He _could_ do that" I replied, "Or, it might be easier to ask the locals."

"It hit the centre of London with a loud bang" the Doctor agreed. "I think that's going to be much easier than searching around."

Pulling out the psychic paper to show us, we read "Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids."

"It's psychic paper, it shows you..." he started.

"Whatever you want them to see" we chorused. "We remember."

"It's not very "Spock", is it?" Rose asked, as we approached a metal door. "Just asking."

"No, that's more like James Kirk" I replied, as the Doctor whispered "Door, music, people. What do you think?"

"I think you should do a scan for alien tech" Rose angrily answered, as the Doctor scanned the door with the sonic screwdriver. "Give me some Spock for once. Would it kill you?"

"He knows what he's doing" I said, trying to calm her down. "Mostly. And besides, I feel weird about being here."

"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" the Doctor asked, looking at her.

"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin" she replied.

Just then, we heard a child's voice call out "Mummy."

The closed surroundings didn't help with the echo.

"Ok, this is creepy" I said.

"It's just a child" Rose replied, as she looked around for the source. "It's nothing to worry about."

"If you say so" I muttered, memories of Alice still present in my head.

At that moment, the Doctor got the door open.

"Come on, if you're coming" he told the pair of us. "It won't take a minute."

"Right behind you" I said, following him in.

I turned around and called Rose's name. But, by this time, she had walked off, following that child's voice.

"Fuck it" I muttered, closing the door behind me.

Catching up with the Doctor, I asked "So, where's the party, then?"

Pointing silently, he led the way as I followed closely behind.

The closer we got, the more apparent it was where, and most importantly _when_ we were.

The Doctor was more immersed in the singing than I was, but I looked around the room all the same.

"Very Casablanca, isn't it?" I whispered to him.

However, my words were lost on him, as he leapt to the stage and grabbed the microphone from the singer, while I stayed in the back.

"Excuse me, could I have everyone's attention for a mo?" he asked the room. "Be very quick. Hello?"

Making sure they were focused on him, he continued "Erm, might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"

At this, the audience cracked up.

Not sure why, the Doctor kept trying to question them.

"Sorry, have I said something funny?" he asked.

"It's just this thing that I have to find" he said, as I silently motioned his gaze over to a wall poster. "Would have fallen from the sky a few days ago. Would have landed quite near here."

At this, there was a siren, where, as a man shouted "Everyone, head to the shelter!" and everyone cleared out, the Doctor continued "With a very loud...", finally noticing the poster I was pointing to and glumly finished "bang."

As he came near me, I said "Now, we _really_ need to find this, before it's too late."

"My thoughts exactly. We have to find Rose, first, wherever she went."

"She couldn't have gone far" I said, as we both exited the door we came in.

We both ran near the Tardis, shouting "Rose?" to no avail.

We nearly made it to the Tardis doors, when we were surprised by a cat that started meowing.

The Doctor went over and petted it, before turning back to me.

"You know, you're the first person who understands the whole "don't wander off" thing. 900 years of phone box travel, and it takes until now for it to kick in."

I was about to reply, but was interrupted by a sound neither one of us were expecting.

The Tardis phone started ringing.

"That's weird" I said, as we both walked towards it. "Who do you think is calling?"

"Only one way to find out" the Doctor replied, as he opened the door where the phone was.

We were so distracted by the phone ringing that neither one of us noticed a woman silently moving to face us.

"How can you be ringing?" the Doctor asked it, as I remembered that the phone at the door wasn't actually real.

"What's that about, ringing?" he continued obliviously, as I shuddered in fear. "What am I to do with a ringing phone?"

I was too scared to reply, but even as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver to "investigate", the woman brought us back to reality.

"Don't answer it" she spoke. "It's not meant for you."

"Oh, really?" I asked, finding my voice at last. "And how do you know that?"

"Cause I do. And I'm telling you. Don't answer it."

Interrogating her further, the Doctor asked "Well, if you know so much, how can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not..." he trailed off, as I jumped back in fright.

"Where did she go?" he asked me.

"I don't know" I answered. "I was turning back to look at the phone as well. Next thing I know, she's Houdini."

Meanwhile, the phone was still ringing, and neither of us were sure who, or what was on the other line.

"You'd better answer it" I said at last. "I'm still scared from seeing her vanish and hearing that child's voice."

So, the Doctor did, putting the receiver up to his ear and listened.

"Anything?" I whispered.

"Shh" he replied, before he asked the other person "Hello?"

There was silence, and then he said "This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" in a happy tone.

This time, I saw his face change from joyful to cautious, because he then asked "Who is this? Who's speaking?"

He repeated the last question again, before saying "How did you even ring here? This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to..."

Looking at the receiver one last time, he placed it into the holder, while I finally asked "So, who was it?"

There was no reply, until the Doctor called out "Rose? Rose are you in there?"

"Doctor" I said, attempting to get a response. "Who was on the phone?"

His answer was interrupted by a sudden crashing that came from the distance, and with that, he closed the door to the phone and ran towards it, with me following behind.

"Shit" I muttered, not liking this at all.

We ran down a street until we heard neighbours calling out nearby.

"The planes are coming, can't you hear them?" a woman yelled. "Into the shelter!"

"Should we..?" I asked, turning to the Doctor, but he had already jumped on top of the bins nearby, and was watching whatever was happening in front of him.

About 30 seconds later, he moved up towards the fence.

"Don't leave me here alone" I hissed, before his arm came down over the side and I jumped up onto the bins to grab it, being as silent as I could. Then again, in an air raid, the planes provided cover in a way.

"So, what happened?" I asked him, as we dropped down into the garden.

"They've just gone into their shelter, and the girl who warned us about the phone is sneaking into their house" he whispered. "She's clever, I'll give her that much."

"Should we follow her?"

"Yes, but do it slowly. I don't want us to get found out as well as her."

Luckily for us, she didn't leave the back door unlocked, so we let ourselves in.

"Look at the things in here" I said, gazing around the kitchen. "It's sad how much you had to leave behind in a time like this."

"Try and stay focused" the Doctor replied, as we progressed towards the hall.

"Wait. I hear kids" I said, as we both hid quickly.

Sure enough, a street's worth of kids marched into the house and entered the living room.

"You'd better go and join the party" I said. "I'll keep watch."

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked me.

"Yeah" I answered. "Besides, one of us in that room will be better than two."

So, the Doctor made his way into the room quietly and almost made himself invisible while I hid at the door-frame, watching the door to see if anyone was trying to get in.

Of course, the Doctor being the Doctor made conversation much more tense as soon as I heard him speak.

"Thanks, miss" he said, breaking everyone's silence.

Then, the girl from earlier started talking to the scared children, calming them down and saying "It's all right. Everybody stay where they are."

"Good here, isn't it?" The Doctor asked the table. "Who's got the salt?"

"Back in your seats" she said. " _He_ shouldn't be here either."

I smiled. _"She's not taking any shit from him. I like her already"_ I thought.

As I heard the shuffle of their feet sitting down, the Doctor asked "So, you lot, what's the story?"

"What do you mean?" I heard one of them ask.

"You're homeless, right. Living rough?"

"Why do you want to know that?" another questioned, before asking "Are you a copper?"

"I'm not a copper" the Doctor reassured them. "What's a copper gonna do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?"

As the children laughed, the Doctor said "I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. Should've been evacuated to the country by now."

"I _was_ evacuated" a boy replied. "Sent me to a farm."

"So why'd you come back?" the Doctor inquired.

"There was a man there" the boy replied, saying no more.

"Same with Ernie" another boy said "Two homes ago."

Someone told him to shut up, but they persisted, saying "It's better on the streets anyway. There's better food."

"Nancy always gets the best food for us" someone chimed in.

"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" the Doctor asked, now with a smile on his face.

"What is?" she asked, angrily.

"Soon as the sirens go, you find a big, fat family meal, still warm on the table, with everyone down in the air raid shelter, and bingo. Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."

"Something wrong with that?" Nancy demanded.

"Wrong? It's brilliant" the Doctor told them happily. "I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."

As everyone else looked confused, Nancy asked at last "Why'd you follow me? What do you want?"

"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call" the Doctor answered her. "You seemed to be the one to ask."

"I did you a favour" she hit back. "I told you not to answer it. That's all I'm telling you."

She then paused.

"So, where's your friend, then? The one who was with you at the phone. Where is he?"

Knowing that the Doctor would have denied it anyway, I stepped out from where I had hid in front of everyone.

"Right here" I announced, scaring the kids again and noticing the Doctor's face turn to a quiet "Why?"

"It's ok" I said, calming them down. "I'm not a copper either. We're just looking for a blonde in a Union Jack. And when I say that, I mean, we mean a specific one, and neither of us woke up this morning with a craving."

"Anyone seen a girl like that?" The Doctor asked them, as his plate was now taken away from him.

"What have I done wrong?" he asked.

"You took two slices" Nancy replied, as the kids pointed and laughed. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else you want before you leave?"

"Yes, actually" I said, gesturing to the Doctor.

Getting my meaning, he took out a pencil and paper, and drew what we were looking for.

"Something we've been looking for" I continued. "Would have fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb."

"Not the usual kind, anyway" the Doctor continued for me. "Wouldn't have exploded. "Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere."

"And it would have looked something like this" he finished, holding up a crude, but ironically accurate drawing of what it looked like.

We looked at Nancy for comprehension, but we were all interrupted by a knocking at the window, followed by the voice of the child I'd heard.

"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" it asked.

"How close is it?" I asked, as the Doctor opened the curtains.

We were greeted to the sight of a child, who looked no older than 5 or 6 in a gas mask, pressing his hand up to the window.

"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked everyone.

"Those two" one said, pointing to the Doctor and myself.

"No, they came in through the back. Who came in the front?" she asked.

"Me" a young boy replied.

"Did you lock the door?" she asked.

When they didn't answer, she asked again.

"Did you lock the door?"

This time, there was a shake of the head and she ran towards the front door, all the while we kept hearing the same child call out for its mummy.

Nancy quickly bolted all the locks, before stepping back in fright.

"What's all this, then?" the Doctor asked, as both Nancy and I were scared shitless at its presence. "Never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

"I suppose you'd know" Nancy retorted, to which the Doctor replied "Yes, actually, I do."

"It's not actually a child" she replied.

Due to what I had seen recently with Jack, I was inclined to agree with her.

The Doctor noticed my face, and asked "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you later" I said. "For now, believe me when I say that child isn't safe."

While this happened, Nancy was busy clearing out the house.

"Right, everybody out" she told the table. "Across the back garden, under the fence. Now, go, move" she ordered, as they now started to leave.

She managed to get the last child out, before it was just her, the Doctor, myself and the other side of the door.

"Please let me in, mummy" the child said, putting its hand through the letter box.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked, as we saw the scar on its hand that looked like a y shape.

"Don't go near it" I pleaded.

Nancy was with me on that, as she threw a vase at the door and it shattered.

"Don't let him touch you" she said.

"And what happens when he touches you?" the Doctor asked.

"He'll make you like him."

"And what's he like?" he asked her as she turned away.

"I've got to go" she whispered.

"Nancy, what's he like?" the Doctor asked her again.

This time, she actually replied, with two words that made the hairs on my neck stand up: "He's empty."

Before the Doctor could reply, the phone at the door started to ring.

"That's him, isn't it?" I asked in fear.

"Yes" Nancy replied. "He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor picked up the phone as I walked back towards Nancy.

"I'm staying back here where it's safe" I told the Doctor.

While the Doctor continued to investigate and the child's voice emanated from a radio and a symbol monkey, Nancy said "You stay here if you want to."

"Doctor, I'm joining her" I told him as I left, "Whether you want to or not."

I left the house as quietly as I entered and started to trail Nancy, which ended near a set of railway tracks, on an abandoned train engine.

"Why are you following me?" she demanded, turning around and stopping. "I don't know about the thing you're trying to find, or where your friend is."

"Well, you may not know about her, but you definitely know something about that child" I replied. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be running away from it."

"Oh, really. And what would you know about things like that?"

"Because I've fought things even worse than this" I answered, pointing up at the planes buzzing around. "And, I know that not every child is easy to handle. I may have been an only child, but I still know that dealing with children is a nightmare, no matter what they're capable of."

"Is that why you're scared of this one?" a familiar voice asked, scaring the both of us. "In case it's like one you've faced before?"

Turning around, the Doctor was stood there, arms folded.

"How much did you hear?" I asked him, as we gathered our senses.

"Nearly all of it. You're not the best at keeping your voice low in places like this."

"Sorry" I replied, as our attention was now turned to Nancy.

"There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy. And it started about a month ago, right?"

Nancy turned around in confusion.

"The thing we're looking for" I told her. "The thing that fell from the sky. That's when it landed. You know what we're talking about, don't you?"

"There was a bomb" she replied. "A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other side of Limehouse Green Station."

"Take us there" the Doctor said.

"No. Soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'd never get through" she told us.

"Try me" I said, turning to the Doctor.

"You sure you want to know what's going on there?" Nancy asked, still not believing.

"I really want to know" the Doctor said.

"Then, there's someone you need to talk to first" Nancy replied.

"Who?" I asked.

"The Doctor" she answered, now confusing the both of us.

As we walked towards the station to get a better view of our surroundings, the Doctor asked me "So, what's got you so shaky about the whole "empty child" business?"

"Aside from the obvious?" I asked.

"Aside from that."

"Look" I whispered, leaving out some things. "The job I worked on while you and Rose were with her dad involved a child, and the first time my partner and I encountered her, we were nearly sucked in by the whole "lost girl" act. Only, my partner managed to notice just in time and we made it out of there safely.

Later, we had to call in some help to deal with her before it got worse. Thankfully, it did, but I was still shaken up by the whole situation, since both of us had seen what she could do first hand.

As a result, I'm now cautious about dealing with children, just in case they're uncontrollable and can't be stopped. Sorry I had to tell you that now" I finished, as we neared our destination with Nancy in front.

"Don't be. At least now I know why you're so jittery" the Doctor replied, placing his arm over my shoulder. "Come on. I think we're nearly there."

And, after a few more minutes of walking, we were.

We clambered up to a bridge that overlooked the "burial site", and looked at the perimeter.

"What can you see?" I asked the Doctor, as he pulled out a pair of strange opera glasses and held them up to his eyes.

"The bomb's under the tarpaulin" Nancy answered for him. "They put the fence up overnight."

"See the building there? The hospital?" she asked, as we then looked up.

"What about it?" the Doctor asked.

"That's where the Doctor is" Nancy replied. "You should talk to him."

"For now, I'm more interested in the landing site than the morgue" I said, as Nancy shuddered. "Sorry" I said, knowing I'd said the wrong thing.

"You'll want to talk to the Doctor first" Nancy replied, trying to deflect the questioning.

"Why?" The Doctor asked.

"Because maybe then. you'll not want to get inside" she answered.

"Thanks for the optimism" I told her, before we heard her move away.

"Where are you going?" the Doctor asked.

"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."

"Can I ask you a question?" The Doctor inquired, as he continued to stare towards the hospital.

Hearing the silence, he asked "Who did you lose?"

"I'm sorry?" Nancy wondered.

"The way you look after all those kids. It's 'cause you lost somebody, isn't it?" The Doctor asked, taking the glasses down and turning around. "And you're doing all this to make up for it."

"My little brother. Jamie" Nancy said at last. "One night, I went out looking for food. The same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me. I told him it was too dangerous. But, he just… He just didn't like being on his own" she finished.

"What happened?" I asked.

"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?"

"I'm sorry for your loss" I sympathised.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was smiling. "Amazing" he said.

"What is?" the two of us wondered.

"1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, Falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing. Until, one tiny, damp, little island says "no". No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion" he summed it up, chuckling. "You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me."

And he finished with a smile, leaving the two of us to ponder over it.

"Off you go, then," I told Nancy with an equal smile. "Save the world."

And with that sentence, we both headed off towards the hospital.

We found the gates sealed with a now rusty padlock as we approached.

"We can't exactly jump it" I said, gazing over the top of it. "And there doesn't seem to be an opening in the fence, either."

"What about this, then?" the Doctor asked, pulling out the sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the lock.

As the lock let out sparks and was disassembled, I said "Yeah. That works."

"Although" I said, as we both untangled the chains, "If it's locked from this side, it _has_ to be bad, otherwise there wouldn't be a lock to begin with."

"So, what do you reckon?" the Doctor asked.

"Quarantine" I guessed, as we pushed the gates open. "That's the most likely scenario. They're trying to prevent an outbreak in the middle of war."

"Only one way to test that theory" the Doctor replied, as we walked through the main doors and found the stairs.

"Sure. Let's investigate the creepy hospital with all the lights turned out" I whispered sarcastically. "What could go wrong?"

"Shh" he answered, while we ascended to the next floor.

"Looks like our floor" I said, noticing the ajar door. "After you."

As the Doctor led the way, we found ourselves in a ward where the beds seemed to be completely full of patients.

"That's weird" I whispered. "They all have gas masks on."

"It's not that weird in this war" the Doctor replied.

"Yeah, but you'd think there'd be at least someone with other injuries" I replied, as the Doctor now reached the same conclusion.

"Should we check another room?" I asked, as the Doctor walked outside the door.

"Marty, someone else is here" the Doctor said, pointing at a lamp that was swinging by itself.

"So much for this being easy" I said, as we walked down to the end of the hall and found another ward open to us.

"This is more of the same" I shuddered as we both looked at the beds.

We were both spooked as we heard another set of feet join ours.

We turned around to find an old man approaching us from a side door. "You'll find them everywhere" he said, pointing at the bodies. "In ever bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them.

"Yes, I saw" the Doctor replied. "Why are they still wearing gas masks?"

"They're not. Who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm..." the Doctor began, before I asked "I take it you're the Doctor here?"

"Dr. Constantine. And you are?"

"Nancy sent us" I replied.

"Nancy?" he wondered. "That means you must have been asking about the bomb."

"Yes" the Doctor's response came.

"What do you know about it?"

"Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know?" the Doctor asked him.

"Only what it's done."

"These people" I said. "Were they all caught up in the blast?"

"As a matter of fact, none of them were."

As the Doctor was bout to question Constantine further, the latter started coughing and fell back onto his chair.

"You're really sick" I said, sadly.

"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?" he asked.

"I have my moments" the Doctor replied, with the two of us smiling.

"Have you examined any of them yet?" Constantine inquired.

"No" we said together.

"Don't touch the flesh" he warned us.

"What one?" I asked.

"Any one."

As the Doctor leant into one of the patients and took out the sonic screwdriver, he scanned the one closest to him.

"Diagnosis?" I asked, now looking at all of them.

"Massive head trauma, mostly on the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't find any burns."

"Examine another one" Constantine ordered, as the Doctor sped around to another one.

"This is impossible" he said, panicked, as I too had the same fear.

"And another" came Constantine.

"They've all got the same injuries" I said. "All of them have the _exact same injuries_. That's _really_ impossible."

"All down to the scar on the back of the hand" the Doctor said, as I could see Constantine's face start to change.

"Doctor" I said, noticing it quickly, but he was too busy wanting to know more details.

"How did this happen? How did it start?"

"When that bomb dropped, there was only one victim."

"Dead?" I asked, backing away from Constantine.

"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient on the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague" he continued, before asking "Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"

"The head trauma" I said.

"No."

"Asphyxiation?" the Doctor asked.

"No."

"The collapse of the chest cavity" I said again.

"No."

"All right, what was the cause of death?" the Doctor asked.

"There wasn't one" came the ominous reply. "They're not dead."

And Constantine banged his cane against a nearby bucket, where the sound was so loud that it woke everyone up in the ward, and causing the pair of us to jump back in fright.

"It's ok. They're harmless" Constantine reassured us. "They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat. No life signs of any kind. They just don't die" he finished.

"And they've just been left here. Nobody's doing anything?" the Doctor angrily asked him.

"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?"

"Just you? You're the only one here?" the Doctor wondered.

"Before this war began I was a father, and a grandfather. Now, I'm neither, but I'm still a doctor."

"Yeah. I know the feeling" the Doctor replied, as I said nothing in silence and fear.

"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb" Constantine glumly said.

"It's too late for that" I said at last.

"I know. There are isolated cases" Constantine began, before he started to shudder in his seat. "Isolated cases breaking out all over London" he continued, before he told the approaching Doctor to stay back.

"Doctor, he's infected too" I said at last. "He has a scar on his hand as well."

"I'm sorry" the Doctor told him, before Constantine rasped out "Listen to me. Top floor. Room 802. That's where they took the first victim. The one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."

"Nancy?" the Doctor asked.

"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she m…."

He then cut off, and started to say another word beginning with "m".

"M-mummy" he croaked. "Are you my mummy?"

Knowing there wasn't anything we could do but watch, the Doctor and I tried to keep calm as Constantine's face morphed from a kind man into a zombified creature with a gas mask.

The gas filter grew out from his mouth, and started to cover the front of his face in a matte black layer, with his eyes turning from angelic to glass covered blankness all in the matter of seconds.

He collapsed to his desk in fatigue, before silence fell.

Which was then interrupted by a pair of all too familiar voices, both asking the same thing.

"Hello?" they yelled, knocking at the door, before it opened and I saw the old friends here at last.

"Good evening" Jack said, breaking the silence. "Hope we're not interrupting" he said, shaking the Doctor's hand. "Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you two on the way over."

"He knows" Rose told the two of us. "I had to tell him. About us being Time Agents."

"And it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock. Mr Smith" he said, walking off.

"Mr Spock?" the Doctor asked her, as I wondered the same.

"Well, what was I supposed to say? You don't have a name."

"You could have went for McCoy at least" I replied. "At least you got my name right. You _did_ get it right, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did" Rose answered, before asking the Doctor "Don't you ever get tired of "Doctor"? Doctor Who?"

Nine centuries in, I'm coping" he replied. "Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz, not the time for a stroll."

"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon" Rose said with a smile. "Only way to see an air raid."

"What?" We asked at the same time.

"Listen, what's a Chula warship? Rose asked, as she walked off.

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks as I turned around.

" _Chula_?" he asked.

"You know what it is?" I asked, to no reply.

"Either way, we need to do this with Jack" I said, as we met up with them in the room.

Jack had already set his Vortex Manipulator to scan the beds and the patients, and they were all getting the same response out of him.

"This is impossible. This is just impossible" he kept saying. "How did this happen?"

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor asked him, breaking him out of his trance.

Jack quickly snapped back. "What?"

"He said it was a warship" Rose put in. "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there. Somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it. Unless we make him an offer."

"Of course he did" I muttered under my breath, before asking "What kind of warship?"

"Does it matter?" Jack protested. "It's got nothing to do with this."

"It does if I want to make sure the quality's intact" I said to Rose and the Doctor's shocked faces. "That, and this started at the bomb site, so it has _everything_ to do with this."

"What kind of warship?" the Doctor interrogated him.

"An ambulance" Jack replied, before showing us the hologram on the Manipulator.

"Look. That's what you chased through the time vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable, it's empty. I made sure of it, nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your rime machine, love the retro look by the way" he said, attempting to cheer us up, "nice panels, threw you the bait..."

"What do you mean, bait?" I asked.

"I wanted to sell it to you, then destroy it before you found out it was junk."

"You said it was a warship" Rose said.

"They have ambulances in wars", Jack told her, thinking she was an idiot, before walking off.

"I'm a con" he said at last. "I'm a con man. That's what I am, I'm a con man. Thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"

"Just a couple more freelancers" I said, before walking over to Jack and whispering to him "Listen, buddy. You and I are gonna become good friends."

Punching him in the stomach, I said "You just don't know it yet."

Gasping as he got up, he replied, "Well, with _that_ attitude, and the way you guys are blending in with the local colour, I should have guessed. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-boat Captain, and whatever film noir _you're_ trying to go for" he said, pointing to my clothes.

"Anyway, whatever's going on here has got nothing to do with that ship."

"What _is_ happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked him.

"Human DNA is being rewritten" he replied. "By an idiot."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"Some kind of virus" I answered. "Converting humans into these things. But why? What's the point?"

As Rose leant into examine one of the bodies, all of them sat up in bed, and said the same thing. "Mummy."

"Rose, get back!" I yelled, as more and more of them got up from their beds.

"Don't let them touch you" the Doctor told Rose as we backed up against a wall with Jack.

"Why, what happens if they touch you?" she asked.

"You're looking at it" I replied.

As the chant of "Mummy" grew more and more due to the approaching mob, it seemed really that with or without me, the timelines would be more fucked up than usual...

 **A/N 2 - If you liked this story, be sure to follow, favourite and review.**

 **Well, this certainly paved the way for future relations, didn't it? Only one way to find out what will happen to our heroes. Unless you know the episodes, and are spoiling it for the rest of us. In which case, let the author do the talking. ;)**

 **Until next time, take care and thanks for reading!**


	13. Here Comes the Bogey Man

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 13: Here Comes the Bogey Man**

 **A/N: Hi again, and welcome back to another chapter of this adventure. First off, I'd like to say I'm sorry for the massive delay inbetween chapters. A few factors are still influencing it. Some are personal, others are just life in general.**

 **One of which is what I like to call the "reverse Phillip J Fry." This is really the opposite of how he approached writing a lot of plot in a short amount of time. "It only took an hour to write. I thought it would take an hour to read."**

 **Second, education is more or less stable for the time being, but work took longer than it needed to.**

 **Third, and I'm not proud of this, is laziness. Pure and simple laziness.**

 **However, there have been positives of me taking my time. For one thing, I managed to see both The Disaster Artist and The Last Jedi, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. The latter is dividing up the main fans because of what it does to the series, but that's something I _really_ don't want to be involved in.**

 **Second, even though I'm a day later than I would have hoped to put this out, it was my birthday on the 20th, so, yay. One year older. Not a lot going on for it, due to something happening on the 25th. Something about a fat guy in a flying sleigh, giving nice kids presents. I don't know. Seems shady to me.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

However, it seemed like the Doctor wanted to make the situation calmer, and told the group "Go to your room. " _Go_ to your room."

As the three of us looked on in confusion, the Doctor continued, gazing at them and saying "I mean it. I am very, _very_ angry with you. I am very, _very_ cross. Go. To. Your. _Room_!" he bellowed, pointing his arm away after the last syllable.

Surprisingly, it worked out in our favour, as the group then returned to where they had got up from; even poor Constantine, who had sat back into his chair, still grasping his cane.

"I am _so_ glad that worked" I said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"So am I" the Doctor replied. "Those would have been _terrible_ last words."

Once we were _sure_ they wouldn't be disturbed again, we tried to make ourselves comfortable in the ward.

"Why are they wearing gas masks?" Rose asked, leaning down to inspect it.

"They're not" Jack replied, who had propped his feet up on a desk without a care in the world. "Those masks are flesh and bone."

"So, this con of yours" I told him. "How was it meant to go down?"

"Simple, enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it down to Earth, convince him it's valuable and name a price. When he's put 50% upfront… oops!" Jack exclaimed, miming an explosion. "German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con" he finished, happily.

"Yeah. Perfect" the Doctor and I replied together.

"The London Blitz is perfect for self-cleaners" Jack continued, proud of himself. "Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it, though. But you've got to set your alarm for Volcano Day" he concluded, laughing.

Then, noticing we weren't with him, he said "Getting a hit of disapproval."

"Take a look around the room" the Doctor replied. "This is what your piece of harmless space junk did."

"It was a burnt out medical transporter. It was _empty_ " Jack emphasised.

"Pretty sure "empty" doesn't do this" I said, pointing to one.

"Look, what's your problem with me?" Jack asked, while the Doctor called Rose over to him. "You say we're good friends, but you're still calling me out? What gives?"

Whispering to him again, this time holding back my punch, I said "I know what your reputation is like, Jack. You put on all of this bullshit just so you're not alone. Trust me. I know what it's like to feel like that."

"Oh yeah. How?" he asked, teasingly.

Laughing slightly, I answered "Let's just say you and I have a lot of history to work towards. Good speaking with you."

Confused, Jack lagged behind a bit as the Doctor told us "We're going upstairs."

Composing himself, Jack yelled out "I programmed the flight controller so that it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one."

While Rose and I looked on disbelievingly, he said "I don't know what's going on here, but I had nothing to do with it."

"Yeah, well, guess what, jackass?" I asked, as the Doctor opened the door. "You forgot to set your alarm. It's Volcano Day."

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a loud siren that wailed out.

"What's that?" Rose asked us.

"The all clear" Jack answered.

"I wish" the Doctor replied, as we followed him out.

For some reason, by the time we had nearly caught up with him, the Doctor had vanished.

"Doctor?" Rose and I yelled, as Jack asked "Mr. Spock?" beside a flight of stairs.

Suddenly, we heard his voice from upstairs, asking Jack "Have you got a blaster?"

We skidded to a halt and backtracked, before Jack replied "Sure."

Running up the stairs, Jack reached into his coat pocket and withdrew his gun.

"The night your space junk landed, someone was hurt" the Doctor told him, as we stood in front of a metal door. "This is where they were taken."

"What happened?" Rose asked.

"Let's find out" he replied, pointing to Jack. "Get it open."

As Jack smiled and produced his blaster, Rose asked the Doctor "What happened to your sonic screwdriver?"

"Nothing" I said, as we took in the sight of what Jack had done to the door, which was to remove the lock via a square and open it as a result.

"Sonic blaster, 51st century" the Doctor identified it. "Weapons factory of Villengard."

"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked him, as the former investigated its look.

"Once."

"Well, they're gone now., destroyed. Main reactor went critical, vaporised the lot."

"Like I said. Once" the Doctor said, giving it back to him.

"There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good" he finished with a smile on his face.

"I'll give you credit for practicality" I said, looking at the pattern the gun had left, as Rose walked in behind. "Digital rewind?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Like I said. You and I have a lot of history" I said, smiling at the squareness gun as Jack followed me into the room.

The two of us walked in to find the Doctor had switched on the lights, and we were presented with a glass pane that had shattered, furniture thrown through it, and terminals and consoles broken.

"What do you think?" the Doctor asked us, as we looked around.

"Well, _something_ got out of here" Jack answered.

"Yeah. And?" the Doctor continued.

"Powerful, from the looks of it" I replied. "Not to mention angry, judging by the glass."

"Powerful and angry" the Doctor concluded.

While the Doctor and I sorted through the paperwork on the desk, Jack and Rose had walked through the second door and looked around the room.

"A _child_?" Jack asked in wonder. "I suppose that explains "mummy".

"How could it do this?" Rose wondered.

"Let's find out" I said, flicking a switch on the recording station that hadn't been affected much.

Instantly, the child's voice that 3 out of 4 of us had already heard came out of the speakers, and I nearly jumped when it spoke, in tandem with Constantine's.

"Do you know where you are?" the latter asked.

"Are you my mummy?" the child asked in response.

"Are you aware of what's around you?" the doctor continued, wanting to get a response. "Can you... see?"

"Are you my mummy?" the question came again.

This time, I couldn't bear to listen to it, so I joined Jack and Rose in the room, tears beginning to come on my face.

"What do you want?" the inquiry continued. "Do you know…"

"Where's my mummy? Are you my mummy? I want my mummy" the child kept persisting.

"Oh, shit" I mumbled, trying not to cry. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Doctor, I've heard this voice before" Rose said, attempting to cheer me up.

"So have we" he replied.

"Always "Are you my mummy?" Like he doesn't know" Rose reasoned. "Why doesn't it know?"

"Are you there, mummy?" the child wondered. "Mummy? Mummy?"

"This is getting too much for me" I said, walking about the room and trying to calm down. "I mean, WW2 is one thing, but to deal with this child and make sense of it, I'm sorry. But I'm terrified."

"I know what you mean" Jack replied, realising the same thing. "Before you guys showed up, I wasn't that worried about being here again. But now, yeah. I'm getting the heebie-jeebies even standing in its room."

"Can you sense it?" the Doctor asked, walking into the room to join us and feeling the walls.

"Sense what?" Jack asked.

"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" he asked, patrolling it.

Noticing our confusion, he said, "Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?"

"Look, don't start" I said, trying to be rational. "We need to find out how exactly this child got this way."

"We will, Marty" the Doctor replied, before stopping in front of the shattered glass.

"There are these children" he started, getting the picture. "Living rough around the bomb sites. They come out during the air raids, looking for food. Suppose it was there, when this thing, whatever it was, landed."

"It was a med-ship" Jack replied. "It was harmless."

"So you keep saying" I responded, before the Doctor continued.

"Suppose one of them was altered."

"Altered how?" Rose and I asked.

"It's afraid" the Doctor answered. "Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do."

As we heard a faint whirr in the background, he laughed and said "It's got the power of a god and I just sent it to its room."

Suddenly the whirring continued, along with the child's voice, who asked "Can't you see me?"

"Doctor. What is that noise?" I asked, as none of us could bear to un-hear it.

"The end of the tape" he replied, scared. "It ran out about 30 seconds ago. I sent it to its room. _This_ is its room" he pointed down.

He spun around, and all of us saw one of the faces of nightmares.

"Are you my mummy?" the child asked us.

"Doctor?" Rose asked, as we kept staring at it, and vice versa.

"Ok, on my mark, make for the door" Jack said, slowly reaching into his pocket.

"Now!" he yelled, pulling out a banana and pointing it at the child.

The Doctor on the other hand, had put his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out the gun, blasting the wall with the same pattern Jack made with the door.

"Go, now!" he yelled, keeping his eyes on the child while the 3 of us left through the hole. "Don't drop the banana!"

"Why not?" Jack asked.

"Good source of potassium!" the Doctor shouted, following us out.

"Give me that" Jack ordered, as he took his gun back from the Doctor and resealed the wall.

"Digital rewind" he reminded us. "Nice switch" he told the Doctor, before he threw the banana back at him.

"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate."

"There's really a banana grove in Villengard? And you did that?" Jack asked.

"Bananas are good" the Doctor replied.

The happy demeanour was quickly shattered by the child, and it punching through the wall.

"Doctor!" we yelled, before we heard the immortal word of "Run!"

Doing that, we sped down a corridor only to find the doors at the end bust open by the other residents of the hospital.

As we backtracked and tried to go the other way, more of them had blocked the same path.

"It's keeping us here until it can get at us" The Doctor said, as we ran back in front of the child's new door.

"It's controlling them?" Jack asked, pointing his gun between both lanes.

"It _is_ them" the Doctor replied. "It's every living thing in this hospital."

"So, any ideas?" I asked, feeling around in my jacket for a weapon of some kind.

Then, forgetting that I'd left it in the Tardis, I said "Shit. I've got nothing. What about you two?"

"Ok. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and it's a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter" Jack sounded off, still aiming at both mobs. "Doc, what you got?"

"I've got a sonic… oh, never mind" The Doctor answered, sheepishly as he lifted the sonic screwdriver up from his jacket.

"Sonic what?"

It's sonic, alright? Let's just leave it at that."

"Disruptor, cannon what?" Jack impatiently demanded.

"It's sonic, totally sonic. I'm soniced up."

"A sonic what?" Jack finally asked, both of them turning around at the same time.

" _SCREWDRIVER_!" the Doctor yelled while the patients were nearly upon us.

At that moment, the child broke through the wall, and Rose pointed Jack's gun at the floor.

"Going down!" she yelled, as I was caught off guard for a second.

"Wait, Rose, don't!" I yelled, as the floor disappeared beneath us.

3 out of the 4 of us landed with hardly any injuries.

The other one? That was me, who landed with a loud crack coming from my feet.

"Aggghhhh!" I cried out, as Jack pointed his gun back up at the staring crowd and they vanished. "Fuck!"

"Are you lot okay?" Rose asked as we got up.

"Could have used a warning" he replied, as I tried to stand back up.

"Marty, what about you?" she asked, concerned.

"I think I broke my ankle from falling down" I answered, trying to stand up and collapsing onto my bad foot. "Yep, it's broke, alright. I'll need some help to move, but if we get somewhere else and away from here, I'll be happier."

"Here you go" Jack said, as he and the Doctor lifted me up onto their shoulders.

"Thanks" I replied, before they continued their "masculinity" contest, with my body sandwiched between them.

"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked, while Rose looked for the lights.

" _I_ do" the Doctor replied, walking slowly with Jack helping him.

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks "Ooh. This could be more sonic?" Jack teased him.

"What, you've never been bored?" the Doctor retorted, with hardly any regard to my well-being. "Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"

Turning my head to look at Rose, I asked "Rose? How are we doing with the lights?"

"There!" she shouted as they flickered on in the ward.

This was both a blessing and a curse, as while it meant we could see, the rest of the inhabitants here took it as an alarm clock, and woke up, saying "Mummy."

"Door" Jack gestured, pushing me onto the Doctor's side while he rushed over to it.

"Jack, hurry up!" I shouted, looking at the approaching crowd as we waited impatiently for his gun to open the door.

"Damn it!" he growled, as the Doctor gave me to Rose and opened the door with the sonic screwdriver. "It's the special features. They really drain the batteries."

"Sorry about this" I told her, as she tried to support me.

"Worry about that later" she replied. "Doctor?"

The Doctor's reply to her was to open the door for us and let him and Jack through first, with Rose helping me behind.

He closed the door behind us, and quickly sealed the handles with the sonic screwdriver.

"I was going to send for another one" Jack said, running towards the window, "But someone had to blow up the factory."

Noticing a wheelchair in the corner, I asked "Rose, do you mind?", gesturing to it.

"Sure. No problem" she answered, gently putting me there.

"Thanks" I sighed, as I collapsed into it.

"Right. The door should hold it for a bit" the Doctor said at last, stepping back from his handiwork.

"The _door_?" Jack and I asked. "The _wall_ didn't stop it!"

"It's got to _find_ us first!" the Doctor protested, before looking around. "We're not done yet. Assets."

"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves" Jack replied, sarcastically.

"Not to mention you've got wounded here" I said, raising my hand. "Not sure what the extent of it is, but if we get to either of our ships, somehow, we can try to fix it."

"We'll do it soon" the Doctor reassured me, before climbing to the window. "Window?"

"Barred. Sheer drop. Seven storeys" Jack stated.

"And no other exits" Rose and I summed up, glumly.

"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack asked us, moving in front of me to get a better understanding.

"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" the Doctor asked Rose, agitated.

"Doctor..." she started, before Jack cut her off.

"She was hanging from a barrage balloon. I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance."

"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here" the Doctor listed. "Two, we _can't_ get out of here. Have I missed anything else?"

I was too busy focusing on my leg and making sure no bones were sticking out that I nearly didn't notice Jack's actions. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue flash, followed by the lack of his presence.

Gazing up at Rose, we said the exact same thing. "Jack's just disappeared."

 _That_ brought the Doctor out of his bubble, and so he sat down in a gloomy state.

"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air" Rose said, pacing about the room. "Why is it always the great-looking ones who do that?"

"Excuse me?" I replied, as both the Doctor and I looked up in confusion.

"I make it an effort not to be insulted" he told her.

"I mean, men" she replied, gesturing to our clothes.

"Thanks. I feel better already" I replied, sarcastically.

Just then, the radio in the corner of a cabinet produced static, followed by Jack's voice.

"Rose, Doctor, Marty. Can you hear me?" he asked, as I wheeled around to it.

As the Doctor flipped it right side up, Jack said "Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's key-coded to my molecular structure."

To our surprise, the Doctor took out the back wires and found them disconnected.

"Working on it, hang in there" Jack reassured us.

"So, how are you talking to us?" I asked.

"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill" Jack answered.

"Now, _there's_ a coincidence" the Doctor muttered to us.

"What is?" Jack asked him.

"The child can Om-Com, too."

"He _can_?" Rose wondered, scared.

"Anything with a speaker grill. Even the Tardis phone" the Doctor said to us.

"You mean the child can phone us?" Rose asked, even more scared than I was.

"And I can hear you" the child's voice interrupted us through the radio. "Coming to find you. Coming to find you."

"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked us, all three of us still being scared shitless.

"Loud and clear" he and I replied.

"I'll try and block out the signal. Least I can do."

As the child called "Coming to find you, mummy" Jack lowered the volume down and asked "Remember this one, Rose?", playing a tune we all knew: Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade.

I almost laughed when it started playing, while the Doctor looked on in confusion.

"Is that Glenn Miller?" I asked, holding back the joy in my voice.

"Our song" Rose clarified to the Doctor as she walked by me to the other side of the room.

"How do you know that's Glenn Miller?" she asked me, sitting near my good leg.

"My mum used to play it a few times before bed" I replied. "It helped me get to sleep better than "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". I haven't heard it in ages, but some things never leave you."

"Yeah. I guess they don't" Rose said, probably bringing back memories of her dad.

The moment was quickly interrupted by the Doctor, who had moved past us and was buzzing the bars with the sonic screwdriver.

"What are you doing?" I asked, spinning around so Rose and I could see him properly.

"I'm trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete" he answered. "Loosen the bars."

"And how's that working out for you?" I asked, gazing at his miniscule progress.

"Better than Jack's. I know that much."

"You don't think he's coming back, do you?" Rose guessed.

"Wouldn't bet my life."

"Why do you not trust him?" Rose and I asked. "Aside from the whole con-man thing" I added.

"Why do you?" he asked.

"He saved my life" Rose answered.

"And _you_ , Marty? I mean you seem to have some beef with him, from what you were so hush-hush about."

"It's complicated" I replied. "And trust me, you don't want to know _how_ complicated it is."

After a few seconds, the Doctor replied "Alright", seemingly not believing me.

"I trust him because he's like you" Rose said to the Doctor. "Except with dating and dancing."

The Doctor looked over to Rose in almost disbelief, then back to the wall.

I meanwhile, was trying not to laugh because of Jack's "previous" with the people he'd met before and after meeting me. He was an untamed animal personified, and we'd both kept the arrangement between us to be strictly professional. Other than that, if it moved, it wouldn't, due to his "influence".

"What's so funny?" Rose asked, acknowledging my smile.

"Nothing" I said. "Just thinking back on old memories."

"You think..." the Doctor said, distracting us. "You think I don't… dance."

"Are you saying you _do…_ dance?" Rose asked incredulously.

"900 years old, me. I've been round a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced."

" _You_?" Rose asked him again, still not seeing it.

"Problem?" I looked at her, still smiling.

"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?"

"Well, I've got the moves, but I wouldn't like to boast."

"Rose, what are you up to?" I wondered, as she slyly moved to the radio and turned the dial up louder.

"You've got the moves? Show me your moves" Rose extended her hand out to the Doctor.

"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete" he replied, dumbly.

"Doctor, it's either you or me that can dance with her, and last time I checked, you had two able feet" I replied, making her offer even clearer.

"Come on then. Jack will be back soon. The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances" Rose persisted.

Finally agreeing, the Doctor jumped down and joined the two of us, while I moved the wheelchair back to give them some space.

As I thought they were about to dance, the Doctor held out her hands and asked "Barrage balloon?"

"Sorry?" Rose asked in response.

"You said you were hanging from a barrage balloon" I said.

"Yeah. About 2 minutes after you left me" she turned around. "Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest."

"I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy friendly" the Doctor said. "Even more than you, Marty."

" _Me_?" I asked. "What did _I_ do?"

"The whole thing with your introduction regarding the Autons. That sort of thing _really_ makes a first impression."

True" I replied, "But at least I didn't advertise a free target to aim at." Looking over at Rose's shocked face, I said "No offence."

"None taken. I didn't think it would turn out like this either."

Still holding her hands, the Doctor said "Hanging from a rope, thousands of miles above London. Not a cut, not a bruise."

"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up."

"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack, now are we?" The Doctor smiled.

"Well, his name _is_ Jack, and he _is_ a captain" I backed her up.

"He's not a captain, you two."

"So, you're jealous" I said, smiling as I summed up his thoughts. "I've seen that too many times to count."

"I think you're experiencing captain envy" Rose smirked.

"You may find your feet at the end of your legs" she continued, beginning to dance with the Doctor. "You may care to move them."

I wheeled back and forth on the wheelchair in time to the music while they continued to talk.

I was concentrating so much on the music, I forgot to mind my surroundings, and backed into an unfamiliar structure.

"What the hell?" I asked, as Jack interrupted the Doctor and Rose with "Actually, I quit."

"You know, most people notice when they've been teleported" he continued as I turned around to see the ship's interior. "It would have been a bit quicker, but I had to take the Nav-Com offline to override the teleport security. That, and I had to take the wounded into consideration" he pointed at me. "No offence."

"It's fine" I replied. "I just need either medicine or something else to help me recover."

"Luckily for you, this is a Chula ship" Jack responded. "Same as the medical transporter, which means" he said, clicking his fingers and making nanogenes appear "You've got a great deal of care for you."

Rolling up my trouser leg and pulling my sock down, I let them get to work on my ankle, while the Doctor and Rose continued talking.

"They're what fixed my hands up" Rose said, as the Doctor conjured his own nanogenes up. "What did you call them?"

"Nanobots? Nanogenes?" the Doctor asked her.

"Nanogenes, yeah" Rose agreed.

"Sub-atomic robots" he said, turning around to me. "I gave you them to fix _your_ hands up, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember" I answered knowing how quickly they had worked on the massive burns on both my hands. "I just hope they're as good with bones as they are with burns."

"They work very quickly" Jack's voice echoed from under the console. "I've used them a few times with this ship, and they've never let me down before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything" I muttered, as I felt them finish their job.

"Take us to the crash site" the Doctor ordered, as I redid my ankle and got up slowly to see if any pain was there. "I need to see your space junk."

"As soon as I get the Nav-Com back online. Make yourselves comfortable" Jack replied. "Go back to whatever it was you were… _doing_."

"We were talking" the Doctor protested.

"It didn't _look_ like talking" Jack and I said in unison.

"It didn't feel like _dancing_ " Rose smiled.

I paced back and forth on the ship, still seeing if all of the damage had been healed by the nanogenes.

"You're starting to make me uncomfortable" Jack laughed.

"Sorry" I replied. "Just not sure if all of it has been cured. I mean, I don't want this to be my literal Achilles heel."

"Well, as someone who's deep down an honest heart, I promise it's all good" Jack said.

Rose, however, had sat down with the Doctor and now asked Jack "So, you used to be a Time Agent, and now you're trying to con them?"

"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money" Jack replied.

"Why then?" I asked.

"Woke up one morning while I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."

"They stole your memories?" Rose asked.

"Two years of my life. No idea what I did."

"But you never went looking for them?" I asked. "You didn't think of that at all?"

"Yeah. That thought crossed my mind too many times to count. But by the time I got around to it, they'd already moved onto something else, and I was forgotten; just another Agent they'd messed up."

Your friend over there doesn't trust me" Jack gazed at the Doctor. "And for all I know, he's right not to. Whereas _you_ " he pointed at me. "You're something else. I mean you see through me instantly, but you want to give me a chance. Why?"

"Like you said. You're an honest heart, Jack" I answered. "And a lot of times, those sorts of people are rare to come across, so might as well take a few risks along the way."

The computer beeped, and Jack said "Ok. The crash site? Hold on."

So we did, while Jack piloted the ship close enough to the site where it wouldn't be seen, even with the cloaking technology.

"Next stop, crash site" Jack said, opening the bottom door so we could get out quickly.

He led us into cover behind some boxes and said "And there it is."

He saw the guard on duty and said "Oh, look. They've got Algy on duty. Must be important."

"We've got to get past him" the Doctor told us, trying to think of a plan.

"Are the words "distract the guards" heading in my general direction?" Rose asked eagerly.

"I don't think that's a good idea" I told her.

"Don't worry. I can handle it" she replied.

"It's not that" I said, smiling. "He's just not your type."

Concurring, Jack said "I've gotten to know him well since I've been in town. I'll distract him."

"Go get him, tiger" I chuckled, as Jack turned around and said "Don't wait up", before prancing away.

As Rose's shocked face stood like that for a few seconds, the Doctor said "It's ok. He's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."

"Among other things" I laughed quietly.

" _How_ flexible?" Rose wondered.

"Well, by his time, you lot have spread yourselves half across the galaxy."

" _Meaning?_ "

"So little species, so little time" I smiled.

"What, that's what we do when we get out there?" Rose was perplexed. "Seek new life and…"

"Do a little dance" I finished.

The fun was quickly over when we watched the man, Algy, collapse in front of Jack and we rushed over to him as Jack shouted "Stay away from him! You men, stay back!"

"The effect's becoming airborne. Accelerating" the Doctor said, as we looked over the body.

"What's keeping _us_ safe?" Rose and I asked.

"Nothing" the Doctor answered as the air raid sirens blasted out.

"Here they come again" Jack said.

"That's _all_ we need" Rose and I uttered.

I then realised something.

"You said a bomb was gonna land here" I turned to Jack. "When?"

"Never mind that" the Doctor interrupted. "If that contaminant is airborne, there're hours left."

"Until what?" all of us asked.

"Until nothing. Forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" he asked, as we heard a woman's voice coming from a nearby shed.

The Doctor opened the door as the singing got louder and he and Jack walked in to find Nancy inside.

Once all 3 of them were out from there, Jack and I rushed to turn on the lights around the debris.

"And behind door number one is..." I said, as we lifted the tarpaulin off.

"You see? Just an ambulance" Jack declared.

"That's an ambulance?" Nancy asked as Rose held onto her.

"It's hard to explain" Rose said. "It's from another world."

"They've been trying to get in" Jack said, as he, myself and the Doctor huddled around the control panel.

"Of course they have" the Doctor replied. "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's secret weapon."

"What are you doing?" I asked Jack, who was touching the buttons to open it.

"The sooner you see this thing's empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it" he answered.

His cockiness was immediately halted by the controls sparking and blaring out a scream.

"Didn't happen last time" he said.

"That's because it didn't crash last time" I replied. "A thing like this probably has emergency protocols built into it."

"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked, pointing at the flashing red marker on the pod.

To answer her question, a loud banging sound erupted from heavy doors on the other side of the tracks.

"Doctor!" she yelled, as our attention was drawn to it.

"Jack, Marty, secure those gates!" the Doctor called out.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Just do it!" I yelled, running towards them. "At least it'll be some form of defence!"

We got to the gates and closed them the best we could.

"Not exactly the Great Wall of China" I said, "But close enough."

"You know that won't stop them, right?" Jack asked me, before we ran back.

"At least it's something" I replied. "And I don't plan on taking anyone down with me."

"Judging by what happened earlier, I'm inclined to disagree" Jack said before we regrouped with the Doctor.

After 30 seconds or so, Jack finally opened the door to the transporter.

"There, you see? Empty" he proclaimed.

"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" the Doctor asked Rose, who had now came back to us with Nancy. "Cough drops and a set of bandages?"

"I don't know" she answered.

"Yes you do" he said, gesturing with his hand.

"Nanogenes" we said at once.

"So, it _wasn't_ empty" I turned to Jack. "There were probably millions of them in there, enough to build a species by the look of it."

"Oh, God" Jack said, sickened.

"Getting it now, are we?" the Doctor asked him. "When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them. Ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the world."

"But their first "patient"" I said "Turns out to be a dead child, probably killed earlier in the night and wearing a gas mask. And they begin to do their job."

"So they brought him back to life?" Rose asked. "They can do that?"

"What's life?" the Doctor asked her back. "Life's easy. Life's a quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene."

"But there's a big problem" I said, continuing on and knowing what he meant. "The ones here aren't like the ones on your ship. They've never seen a human before. Don't know what one looks like or is supposed to look like. All they have is one body in front of them to base their future from, and what little there is doesn't help."

"So they carry right on" the Doctor picked up from where I left off. "They do what they were programmed to do. They patch it right up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. And then off they fly, off they go, work to be done.

'Cause now, they think they know what people should look like. And now it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't stop. They won't ever, _ever_ stop. The entire human race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one child looking for its mother. And _nothing_ in the world can stop it!" he yelled, finishing his rant.

"I didn't know" Jack weakly said at last.

Saying nothing, the 4 of us crowded round the transporter while Nancy walked away to watch the gates.

Just then, we heard the sound of "Mummy" echo through the crowd that had shown up and were slowly advancing.

"It's bringing the gas people here, isn't it?" she asked the Doctor, who had pulled out the wiring from the bomb and tried to reconfigure it.

"The ship thinks it's under attack" he replied. "It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol."

"But the gas mask people aren't troops" I said.

"They are now. This is a battlefield ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up. They make you ready for the front-line. Equip you, program you."

"And that's why the child's so strong?" Rose asked. "Why it could do that phoning thing?"

"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old, and now there's an army of them."

"But they're not attacking. Why?" I asked.

"They're good little soldiers. Waiting for their commander" the Doctor explained.

"The child" Jack said.

"Jamie" Nancy clarified. "Not the child. Jamie."

"How long until this bomb comes?" Rose asked Jack.

"Any second now" he replied.

"What's the matter, Captain?" the Doctor teased. "Too close to the volcano for you?"

"He's just a little boy" I murmured, still scared about the situation.

"He's just a little boy scared for his mummy" Nancy cried.

"I know" the Doctor comforted her. "There's not a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked. "Fight?"

"I don't know" the Doctor answered.

"It's all my fault" Nancy sobbed, louder than before.

"It's not" the Doctor said, looking at her.

"It is. It's all my fault."

"Don't be daft. How can it be your..."

The Doctor trailed off as the cries of "Mummy" still grew around the fence.

"Nancy, what age are you?" he asked her at last, after spinning around at the number of soldiers. "20? 21? Older than you look, yes?"

A loud explosion, preceding a plume of orange fire came moments later from 50 feet away.

"Doctor, that bomb" Jack said urgently. "We've got seconds."

"You can teleport us out, right?" I asked him.

"Not you guys. The Nav-Com's back online. It'll take too long to override the protocols."

"So it's Volcano Day" the Doctor concluded. "Do what you have to do."

"Jack?" Rose asked, as I said "Good luck."

With a flash and a buzz, Jack disappeared again, only instead of confusion, we were left with sadness.

Not finished with his questioning, the Doctor asked Nancy "How old were you 5 years ago? 15? 16? Old enough to give birth, anyway. He's not your brother, is he?" he asked the still crying Nancy. "A teenage single mother in 1941."

"So you hid" I said. "You lied. You even lied to him."

The sob story came to a crashing conclusion when the gates Jack and I had secured burst open violently.

"Here they come" I said, as they revealed Jamie standing at the front, asking the question again.

"He's gonna keep asking Nancy" the Doctor said. "He's never gonna stop."

"Tell him" I pleaded. "It's the only way to stop this."

Still hesitant, Nancy was convinced by the Doctor saying "Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me, and tell him."

So Nancy turned around, kneeled down and looked straight at the child's face while it kept up its single question.

"Yes. I am your mummy" she repeated, while the Doctor kept Rose and I back. "I _am_ your mummy. I will _always_ be your mummy."

Hugging Jamie with tears down her face, Nancy said "I'm so sorry. I'll never leave you again."

"What's happening?" Rose asked, as nanogenes formed around Nancy and Jamie. "Doctor, it's changing her. We should..."

"Shh" I whispered, while the nanogenes still swarmed around the pair. "They're working."

"Come on, please" the Doctor encouraged them. "Come on, you clever, little nanogenes. Figure it out."

"The mother. She's the mother" I said, helping him. "That's got to be enough information. Come on. Work it out."

"What's going on?" Rose asked, still confused until the Doctor grabbed her arm.

"There, you see?" he asked. "They're recognising the same DNA."

It was over a few seconds later, and Jamie released Nancy from the hug.

The Doctor sprinted over to Jamie and said "Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this."

He touched the gas mask, and lifted it slowly, to reveal Jamie's smiling face from under it.

Lifting him up joyfully with a laugh, the Doctor told Jamie "Welcome back! 20 years to pop music. You're gonna love it."

"What happened?" Nancy asked, as Jamie was lowered down.

"The nanogenes" the Doctor replied. "They recognised the superior information. The parent DNA. They didn't change _you_ because _you_ changed _them_!"

"So, what about the bomb?" I asked, as the explosions got nearer and nearer.

"Taken care of it" the Doctor answered.

"How?" Rose asked.

"Psychology" was all the Doctor said.

As if on cue, right as the bomb was about to descend, Jack's ship arrived just in time with a tractor beam and held it in place.

With a buzz later, he appeared on the bomb and yelled "Doctor!"

"Good lad" the Doctor told him.

"The bomb's already commenced detonation" Jack yelled. "I can put it in stasis, but it won't last long!"

"Change of plans!" I shouted. "Don't need the bomb now. Can you get rid of it safely?"

Nodding, Jack asked "Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"Goodbye" Jack said, before teleporting with the bomb back to his ship and it took off, although he did come back a few seconds later to add "By the way, love the t-shirt!" to Rose and teleporting away again.

I turned to the Doctor who was holding his hands up like he was about to shake imaginary pom-poms.

"Well, the bomb's taken care of" I said, "But what about the crowd here?"

"You'll see" the Doctor replied, holding his arms up to show us the rest of the nanogenes that had left Jamie.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked.

"Software patch. I'm going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose?" he asked. "I'll give you moves."

And with that, he let loose the rest of the nanogenes at the people around us, scattering them and restoring the people to how they were before. Some of which were better than what they had been prior to contact with Jamie.

"Everybody lives, Rose!" he declared. "Just this once. Everybody lives!"

As the first line of people stood up slowly, the Doctor ran over to a familiar face and held his arm.

"Doctor Constantine, who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor. The world doesn't want to get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit."

"These are your patients" he gestured. "All better now."

"Yes, so it seems" the other replied. "And we all seem to be standing around a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"

"Well, you know. Cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past you're probably going to find they've been cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are, don't make a big thing of it. Okay?"

After that last word, the Doctor ran back to where Rose and I stood, leapt out onto the bomb and yelled "Right, you lot. Lots to do. Defeat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!"

Crouching down onto the bomb, the Doctor said "Setting this on to self-destruct, as soon as everyone's clear. History says there was an explosion here. And who am I to argue with history?"

"Usually the first in line" Rose and I said, before we made our way back to the Tardis, while Jamie and Nancy went their separate way with the rest of the crowd.

No sooner had we walked to the street where the Tardis had been left, than the bomb had detonated and a violent haze of crimson lit up the grey sky.

"Well, that's one part of history sorted" I said, as we turned around to see how high the flames reached. "I just hope no-one's daft enough to use any of the technology, if there's any left, that is."

"It's alright" the Doctor said, as we approached the Tardis door and opened it, letting himself in first, with Rose in the middle, and me bringing up the rear. "The nanogenes will clear the mess up, because I told them to, Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered. Fantastic!"

With a big grin on her face, Rose said "Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas."

"Who says I'm not? Red bicycle when you were 12."

"What?" she asked, concerned.

"And everybody lives, you two. Everybody lives! I need more days like this."

Knowing what she was about to say, I started "Doctor..."

"Go on, you two. Ask me anything, I'm on fire."

Carrying on from me, Rose said "What about Jack?"

As the Doctor looked up, she asked "Why did he say goodbye?"

The Doctor said nothing, but I answered for him, saying "Being a captain, he wanted to go down with his ship. Luckily for us, we can save him."

"Yes, we _can_ ", Rose agreed. "Doctor?"

"On it" he said, after leaping from control to control. "Get ready to surprise him."

And he pulled the lever to dematerialise the Tardis.

"Locking on, and..." the Doctor said, looking at the monitor. "Got him, with about a minute 30 to go until his ship's done."

"You want to be loud and proud, or play it out slow?" I asked.

"He'll be diverting the power to keep the bomb in stasis" the Doctor replied. "So, he won't know we're here unless we make it loud with music."

"And I know just the music to get his attention" Rose smiled, as the Doctor let her play the familiar sound of Moonlight Serenade, which played throughout the Tardis console room.

"Shall we?" she asked, letting the Doctor pull her into a dance while I opened the Tardis doors to let Jack hear it.

It didn't take long before Jack noticed the music playing, and Rose saw his reaction over the Doctor's shoulder.

"Come on, then!" she yelled, as Jack made the way through his ship and walked inside the Tardis.

While Jack stared in disbelief at the Tardis' dimensions and watched Rose and the Doctor dancing slowly, I closed the doors behind him, leaving us to watch the double act unfold.

"Okay, try and spin me again" Rose told the Doctor as they broke apart. "But this time, don't get my arm up my back. No extra points for a half-nelson."

"I'm _sure_ I used to know this stuff" the Doctor pondered, activating the controls as I welcomed Jack saying "Welcome to the Tardis, Captain. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Let me guess. It's much bigger..."

"Much bigger on the inside" Jack said with me. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Call it a hunch" I replied as Rose said to Jack "You may cut in on this dance."

Taking him by the hand and up to the console, which he did so with a smile, the Doctor said "Rose. I've just remembered."

"What?" she asked, as another familiar Glenn Miller tune came on, this time In The Mood.

"I can dance" he answered, clicking his fingers and stepping in time with the beat. "I can dance."

"Actually, Doctor, I was thinking Jack might like this dance" Rose said, as I too did my own version of the swinging.

"I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?" the Doctor's smile returned to his face as she ended back in his arms again.

"Don't feel left out, Jack" I said, offering my hand to him. "A partner's a partner, no matter who it is."

"Thanks" he said, taking it as we moved like the other pair. "Where'd you learn to dance, by the way? I've never seen so much confidence in one person, aside from the guy in the mirror."

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out" I said, remembering how much he'd taught me in his down time. What can I say? The man knew his music and his moves. He made Travolta look like a marionette.

"You're not exactly helping me out" he murmured, "Although, considering what I did before you guys, secrecy's one of my better skills, so I'll let you off this time."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" I replied, as the Doctor and Rose finished their dance, leaving the two of us being awkward in front of them.

"What was that you were saying about him being more flexible?" Rose teased, as the Doctor let her go.

"Really?" Jack said, also letting go. "You said that about me?"

"Well, it's not entirely false" I answered, stepping back. "I mean, 51st century? The law's probably more… giving... where you're from."

"Ok, that _is_ true" Jack said, "But there are still restrictions on protocols and things like that."

"I can only imagine" I replied, while the Doctor broke us apart by saying " _Anyway_. Since you're one of us now, you'll need a room. Take the first right, second left, third right, and it's the one closest to the stairs. Good luck."

"You're joking" Jack said, looking around at our faces.

"Nope" I replied, patting him on the back. "Good luck. You'll need it."

As Jack walked away to find his room, the Doctor said "Well, he's a good man. Even for a con man. And a man like that deserves to be on here."

"Couldn't agree more" Rose said, sitting down on the seat. "What about you, Marty?"

"You've said all I was going to" I answered. "For all the shit he's pulled, and probably even before us, at least he redeemed himself."

"Redeemed, no" the Doctor said. "But he's getting there. One bit at a time."

"And right now, one bit is all it takes to make it better" I finished, before walking back to my room. "See you later."

"Goodnight" Rose echoed as I shut the door behind me.

"And now to get the rest of this sorted" I muttered, as the Tardis spoke to me again.

" _Well. Now that your Captain is aboard me, are you close to succeeding with your "other" job?"_ she asked.

"Don't do this now" I groaned. "I mean, it was bad enough with the whole WW2 thing, but after the empty child, and then narrowly avoiding an exploding bomb, I've had enough for one night."

" _I'm sorry. Did I want you to whine?"_ came the reply. _"No. I have been patient before, but now you are very close to approaching your deadline, and barely any progress has been made."_

"Not my fault!" I protested. "I had a lot on my plate to deal with. Not to mention, Jack's been his usual self, which means he left it to a few hours. He's working, but someone like him has priorities."

" _I guess then, it's lucky that I need to refuel"_ the Tardis said, as I changed out of my clothes. _"If you are indeed correct about your friend making progress, and how they have completed it, then you have nothing to fear."_

"Are you serious?" I asked. "So, you can tell the Doctor when we need to land, and he'll do it?"

" _You forget one of the first rules of travelling in me"_ the Tardis replied. _"I don't always take him where he wants to go..."_

"But where he _needs_ to go" I finished. "Oh, that _is_ good. So, my next trip is going to take us back to Cardiff?"

" _Precisely. Now, get your rest. You will need it."_

Signing off, the Tardis left me alone with my thoughts.

"Thank God" I said, drifting off to sleep again, inching even closer to when I'd see "my" Jack in the flesh...

 **A/N:**

 **Well, hope you enjoyed that chapter of my story. Again, I'm sorry for the delay, and I'll try to get the 3 more chapters for this volume done before Christmas. If not, again, that's what the PMs are for. Until the next time, take care, and thanks for reading.**


	14. Boom Town Called Malice

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 14 - Boom Town Called Malice**

 **A/N- I had planned to have all of the chapters here done before Christmas. Guess that didn't happen, eh? What did happen is that by the time I had got this one done, it was Boxing day. Unfortunately, thanks to having hotel wifi at Christmas time, it meant I couldn't upload any until I got home. However, I still want to live up to my promise that I'll have series 1 of Doctor Who done by the New Year. I already have my Bad Wolf chapter done, so after that's edited and posted, probably a few minutes after this one -we'll see-, all I have left to do is my "Parting of the Ways" one, and trust me, you'll want to stick around for that.**

 **Until then, feel free to enjoy this next installment aboard the Tardis.**

Instead of either the Tardis, the Doctor's "driving" or something else waking me up, Jack actually did it, by walking by my room and knocking on the door.

"Wakey, wakey" he rapped, before his footsteps disappeared.

"Yeah. Good morning to you, sunshine" I muttered, getting up and changing into a green hoodie over a red t-shirt.

As I exited the room with my phone in my pocket, I noticed a spider web of wires streaming from end to end at the Tardis console, with the Doctor and Jack hard at work fixing her up.

"Doing a tune up?" I asked the Doctor, who was on a ladder tweaking the bulb on the wall.

"Something like that" he replied, turning around. "The Tardis needs to refuel here to absorb more of the time energy from the rift, and some of the interior needs to be fixed..."

"So might as well kill two birds with one stone" Jack finished, handing the Doctor his tools.

"How much have you told him about her?" I asked. "About the Tardis, and that."

"Only what we told him last time, and what he's figured out for himself" came his answer. "So far, Jack's been a big help in restoring her."

"Plus, I don't mind the company" Jack added with a wink. "Even though I'd rather be up and about."

"Stop it" I laughed. "I swear, you two are getting on like an old married couple."

"Maybe we _are_ " Jack said, as I moved towards the doors. "But I'll take what I can get."

"Spoken like a true scavenger" the Doctor replied. "Pass me the sonic screwdriver" he gestured to me, as I did so.

"So, where are you off to?" he asked, muffled by the screwdriver in his mouth.

"Well, I figured if we're gonna be here for a while, might as well make the most of it" I answered. "If you find trouble, or vice versa, just give me a call, and I'll be right there."

"Exchange the phone numbers in the Tardis now" the Doctor said. "It'll save both of us the bother to call each other later."

"Actually, I already have it saved" I replied. "I managed to do it during my job before."

"And you're good for now?"

"Yep. That's it" I said, walking towards the doors again. "Nothing else. See you soon."

"Take care" Jack saluted, as I closed the door behind me.

"And now for the fun to begin" I muttered, as I took out my phone and looked around.

As I expected, it rang a few seconds later, to see and hear the name of the person I'd just left.

"Hi, buddy" I said, answering. "How've you been?"

"I've been better" Jack replied on the other end. "I take it you've just woken up and arrived here?"

"Yep."

"Which means..." I heard Jack mutter the time to himself. "Mickey should be approaching the museum by now. You see him?"

I squinted into the distance, and saw a figure moving through the quay towards me.

"Yeah. I see him. Why?"

"Because when he arrives, you've got 15, maybe 20 minutes before you've got to meet up with the Doctor again. And trust me, you'll want to be armed before then."

"Where are you?" I asked, looking around at the statue above the Hub.

"Where do you think?" he asked in response, with a smile. "Say hi to the cameras."

"You got my problem sorted?"

"And then some. Come here, and I'll share the happy news with you. See you soon."

"Bye" I said, hanging up and walking around to the door of the Hub.

As Jack opened the front door for me and gave me a hug, I said "Long time no see."

"Yeah. Almost a few months, give or take a few days" Jack replied. "Come on and see what I've got for you."

"I hope it's worth it" I said, as we descended in the lift. "I don't want the Tardis to get pissed off even more than she is right now."

"Trust me, you'll be getting her to change her tune _very_ soon" Jack replied, as he led me over to his computer and pulled out 2 flash drives. One of which was the original one, and the other must have been a backup.

"So, you gave her a voice?"

"Oh, _yeah._ Had to source around for a few samples, but, in the end, I got something I think she'll appreciate. A little Audrey Hepburn, a bit of Meryl Streep, and, last but not least, a taste of Sigourney Weaver."

"Not bad" I said, impressed. "Not bad at all."

"I also made a few changes to the control structure" Jack continued. "Sort of an override, if you will. That means, if you get locked out of her, just use the phone to say your code, and she'll respond accordingly."

"Sweet. I assume you had to give it a name."

"Yeah. I thought hard about it, and came up with a good acronym, at least I think so."

"What is it?"

"I call it ANDROS" Jack announced. "Artificial Navigator for a Dimensional Relative Operating System. Kind of like the Tardis version of Jarvis. What do you think?"

"I think it's amazing" I replied, putting both of the flash drives in my pocket.

Thinking, I asked "What about the "problem" we had last time? The one where containment was used."

"Ahh. That" Jack said. "Well, turns out, it took a little bit longer to accomplish. Don't get me wrong; it was still done in the end, but travel took a few hiccups before we reached there."

"How much longer?"

"A couple of weeks" Jack replied. "Though, that was mainly to keep both of them on ice until I could get a clear location. The slower we went, the easier it was to transport the pair. If we'd have sped up, the ice would have melted faster due to all of the heat produced.

Other than that, I just had to bury them deep enough so that no-one, and I mean _no-one_ could disturb them. I'm not proud of what had to do, but at least it was easier than letting them loose."

"I'm still scared by what happened" I replied. "I mean, after I left you, the present you, I mean, I went back with the Doctor and Rose and met the "younger" you."

"Oh, boy" Jack said, rubbing his head. "Yeah. That whole thing went tits up from the beginning. I'm really sorry I put you guys through that. Although, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be alive right now to help out."

"One big self-fulfilling prophecy" I chuckled. "Yeah. Although, I have to say, your younger self _was_ an asshole. I'm just putting that out there."

"Ok. No arguments there" Jack muttered, "Even though you _did_ hit me in the stomach for it. I deserved that, especially since I'd only quit the Time Agency what, 2, 3 years? And I was trying to survive at any means."

"And then you met us, and boy, did _that_ open up a can of worms."

"You don't know the half of it" Jack replied, before steering the conversation. "You remember what I said about needing to meet up with the Doctor again?"

"Yeah" I said. "Why? Who are we up against?"

"An old "friend"" Jack said, using air quotes and sliding a newspaper towards me.

On the front cover was a face that I recognised all too well.

Margaret Blaine, or the Slitheen who'd disguised itself as her, was trying to cover her face with her hand in front of the camera, above the heading, which said "NEW MAYOR, NEW CARDIFF."

"Shit" I said at last. "I'd almost forgotten about her, and their little stunt. So much for making this easy."

"Hey, at least you're only dealing with one this time" Jack replied. "Even if it _is_ a female."

"What's the difference between her and a male?"

"They've got poison darts in their fingertips, and if you're close to their human form, they can give you a toxic breath."

"Well, _she's_ certainly fun at parties" I replied. "Still, lonely or not, she needs to be taken care of."

"I wouldn't say "take care of her" like that, but..." Jack said, trailing off.

"What's with the sudden mystery?" I replied.

"Let's just say you'll want to give her a second chance."

As I raised my eyebrows, Jack continued "That said, if she won't co-operate, just be sure to give her a little… incentive."

"What kind of incentive?" I asked, eyes narrowed.

"The usual kind. A little bit of pain to get them to settle."

And with that, Jack opened up one of the kitchen cupboards to unveil a crate of glass bottles within it. All of which said the same thing: Vinegar.

"Holy shit" I chuckled. "How long have you been stockpiling these?"

"Ever since now, actually" came Jack's answer. "Just in case any more Slitheen or anything from Raxacoricofallapatorious starts its business in this city. And with what you guys have taught me, and what I already know, that tends to add up to a lot more."

"So, how am I supposed to get this much to her?" I asked. "You can't exactly spike the water with it."

"No, but I do have this" Jack said, pulling out something that made me let out a hearty laugh. A water pistol, in the shape of a Colt 1911, down to the grip and all. Aside from the obvious water cap at the hammer, the only thing that made me question it being genuine was the colour. I mean, I don't imagine a blue and red colour scheme being intimidating. Not unless you plan to impale someone with the US or UK flag.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"It's better than nothing" Jack replied. "Come on. By my count, we've only got a few minutes left until you're called by the Doctor. If you're gonna do this right, you need to do it now."

"Alright" I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Let's get this done."

Holding the water pistol over the sink and both of us wearing nose plugs, we carefully poured as much vinegar as we could into it, until it was full to the brim.

"That's one part over with" I said, nasally. "I just wish there was something to cover up the smell."

"Yeah. They don't exactly come with air fresheners" Jack agreed. "Until then, just cover it with either deodorant, or let your body odour be the present thing. She'll probably think you don't pose a threat, until you pull it out. One last thing" he added. "Don't use the pistol until you're in danger. Any of you. And if you do, threaten her first. Don't go guns blazing, even if she intimidates you."

"I'll try" I replied. "But someone like that won't be easy to get along with."

"Alright. Well, I think that's all" Jack said, as I tucked the gun into the pocket of my hoodie. "See you again soon, Marty."

"See you" I said, as I made my way over to the express lift Jack had installed.

As soon as I stepped onto the platform, gave Jack a wave and the lift started to rise, my phone rang.

It was the Doctor on the other end.

"Marty, we've got a situation" he said. "Meet the rest of us in front of the city hall."

"I'm on my way" I said, as the lift stopped right in front of the Tardis and I stepped off the "magic lift" as Jack had dubbed it.

The others weren't hard to find as I walked around the corner. Just had to look for the Tardis version of the Reservoir Dogs ascending the steps.

The younger Jack filled us in on the situation, as I feigned ignorance.

"According to Intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family" he said, looking at the Vortex Manipulator. "A criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious masquerading as a human being zipped inside a skin suit."

None of us bothered to correct him on our previous with the said family.

Oblivious, Jack continued, saying "Okay, plan of attack. We assume a basic 57-56 strategy, covering all exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face" he ordered. "That'll designate Exit 1. I'll cover Exit 2, Rose you take Exit 3, and Mickey and Marty, you take Exit 4. Have you got that?"

" _Excuse me_?" the Doctor asked him, as he and I looked on in apprehension. "Who's in charge?"

"Sorry" Jack replied. "Awaiting orders, sir."

"Right, here's the plan" the Doctor said, before looking around at us. "Like he said, nice plan. Anything else?"

"What if she _does_ escape?" I asked, before I noticed Jack's confused expression. "What? She _might_."

"That's not gonna happen" Jack said, cocky. "I've done this before."

"And how many times have they got away from you?" I asked.

"Out of 100, 1 or 2, but we've managed to track them in the end."

"Is that all then, Marty?" the Doctor asked me.

"Yep, that's all" I answered. "Let's move out."

"Present arms" Jack said, while we held our phones out.

"Ready" we said in order, from the Doctor, Rose, Mickey, myself, then finally Jack.

"Speed dial?" he called out.

"Check" the Doctor and I replied.

"Ready" Rose and Mickey said.

"Check" Jack said, before adding "See you in Hell."

As we parted ways and I was paired up with Mickey, I turned to him.

"Better do this quick" I said. "Don't want Jack to take the glory."

"I'm still a bit scared" Mickey replied. "I don't think I'm prepared after last time those things invaded."

"Even with all that vinegar in your home?" I laughed. "Trust me, Mickey. You're prepared. Besides, at least I'm not calling you an idiot."

"Guess I _am_ useful for something" Mickey chuckled, as we moved to the designated exit. "Just, blowing up Number 10 with a missile."

"And erasing all data of the Doctor from the Internet" I added. "Don't forget that."

"And yet, he's still here" Mickey replied. "I really don't think I'm companion material."

"Well, you're more like me" I said. "Tech support, instead of being out in the field. Something like that goes a long way with the Doctor."

"Thanks for the positivity" Mickey replied, before our phones rang, and the Doctor said "Slitheen heading north."

"On our way" I replied, while Mickey was less optimistic. "Oh, my God."

With a look at each other, we sprinted down the hall towards the exit.

Mickey ended up crashing into a maid's cart and tipped it over, bucket on his foot.

I was more agile than him, and vaulted over both him and the cart, before crashing through the door.

"Mickey, hurry up" I yelled back to him, before I found my way to the exit gate.

"Alright, you bitch" I muttered, as I turned around and waited for the company to appear. "Let's see you escape now."

It didn't take long for the action to commence, as I quickly put my hand into my hoodie, finger tight on the grip of the water pistol.

Within a few seconds, Rose and Jack had caught up with me, and of course, the target.

Margaret ran towards me, hissing wildly.

"Come on" I shouted, beckoning her with my free hand.

She was clutching her brooch with one hand, and almost near me. I tried to wrestle her to the ground, but she escaped, and I pulled out the water pistol.

"Stop, or I'll fire!" I yelled, causing her to turn around.

"Do your best" she replied, running and activating the teleport hidden in her brooch.

"She's got a teleport!" Jack wailed. "That's cheating. Now we'll _never_ catch her!"

"The Doctor's good at teleports" Rose replied, as she, him, and now Mickey arrived to join up.

With a whirr, the sonic screwdriver was activated, and Margaret reappeared, running towards us.

She tried to activate it again, but again, that brought her closer to us.

One more attempt happened, before that brought her face to face with us, and made her stare right into the barrel of the water pistol.

"I could do this all day" the Doctor said, joyfully.

"This is persecution" Margaret replied, holding up her brooch. "What did I ever do to you? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"You tried to kill us" I answered, pointing the water pistol at her. "And tried to destroy this entire planet."

"Apart from that" she said, before getting distracted by the weapon.

"Is that a water pistol?" she asked, with a smile on her face.

"Yes, it is" I confirmed, as everyone else gazed on in confusion. "However, it's not water in here. Come on, Margaret. You've got a good nose. Smell it, and tell everyone what it is."

She took a big whiff and then recoiled in horror.

"V-Vinegar" she whispered. "Do you mean to kill me?"

"No" I replied. "But as long as you're savvy with us, it won't be used. Deal?"

"Deal" she agreed, as the Doctor led her in, with me following very close behind.

Trying to distract her, the Doctor said, "So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed, but you teleport out, just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?"

"A philanthropic gesture" Margaret said. "I've learnt the error of my ways."

"Sure" I replied. "And next you're about to tell us that we've won a million pounds."

"It's _true_ " Margaret insisted. "I'm a new person."

"And this just so happens to be right on top of the rift" the Doctor pointed to the model of the power station.

"What rift would that be?" Margaret asked, and I wasn't sure if she actually was confused, or if she was feigning confusion.

"A rift in space and time" Jack explained to her. "If this power station went into meltdown, the whole station would go..." He then mimed a drain sucking water into it with his hands.

"This station is designed to explode the moment it hits capacity" the Doctor summed up.

"But didn't anyone notice?" Rose asked Margaret. "Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of thing?"

"We're in Cardiff" Margaret gloomily said. "London doesn't care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and no-one would notice." She then paused, and said "Oh, I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native."

"You say that" I said, "But you've probably tried to keep this under wraps for ages. Anyone that got close ended up in an "accident", and you had to keep it hush-hush. Am I right?"

"Maybe you are" Margaret replied, with an icy stare.

"But why would she do that?" Mickey asked at last. "A great big explosion, she'd only end up killing herself."

"She's got a name, you know" interjected Margaret.

"She's not even a she, she's a _thing._ "

"Ahh, but she's clever" the Doctor said, sweeping the model towers off the base, and flipping the base over.

"Fantastic" he said, as we saw a layer of circuitry on the bottom of the piece.

"Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kenetic extrapolator?" Jack asked, with enthusiasm.

"Couldn't have put it better myself" the Doctor answered, as we looked at Jack's "well-too-happy" face.

" _Genius_!" he yelled, bringing it around to Margaret. "You didn't build this?"

"I have my hobbies" she replied. "A little tinkering."

"No, you _really_ didn't build this" Jack insisted. "It's way beyond you."

It was at that moment, both the Doctor and I noticed the poster Margaret had used for her campaign, neither of us listening to Jack's explanation of how the extrapolator worked.

The Doctor got confused at the words on it, while I was scared due to the last time I'd seen, or in my case heard them.

"How'd you think of the name?" he asked Margaret.

"What? Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh" she replied.

"I know, but how did you think of it?"

"I chose it at random, that's all. I don't know. Just sounded good. Does it matter?"

The Doctor and I both turned to face them.

"Blaidd Drwg" he repeated.

"What's it mean?" Rose asked.

"Bad Wolf" I replied, scared.

"We've heard those words before" Rose replied. "I've heard those words lots of times."

"Everywhere we go, two words following us" I said. ""Bad Wolf" If that's not an omen, I don't know what is. I mean, even Gwyneth, Rose. The first time she said those words, I had legitimate chills down my spine. And we know what she was capable of."

"How can they be following us?" Rose asked, now as scared as I was, the first time we heard them.

"Must be a coincidence" the Doctor answered at last, breaking the tension. "Like hearing a word on the radio, then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do. Margaret, we're taking you home" he said, passing by her and pointing.

"Hold on, isn't that the easy option?" Jack asked. "Like letting her go?"

"Yeah, I'm with Jack on this" I said. "What makes you think we can trust her?"

" _You're_ one to talk" the Doctor replied. "The whole water pistol thing?"

"It's _incentive_ " I emphasised. "I'm not actually going to use it. Unless you actually give me an excuse" I said to Margaret. "I want you to be calm with us, but the second you try anything, say hello to being green goo."

"Honestly, I'd rather take death by… water pistol" she gestured to it, "Than what would happen if I went home. They have the death penalty."

Looking at Rose's face drop from happy to anxious in a second, she continued. "The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty. With no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I'm to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor?"

As we looked on in silence and horror, she summed up "Take me home, and you take me to my death."

"Not my problem" the Doctor finished, before we walked out of her office and back towards the Tardis.

It was dark by the time all of us got back, although Mickey remained as far away as he could from her, possibly because, like the rest of us, he wanted nothing to do with the Slitheen in the room.

The Doctor opened the door and entered, followed by Margaret, myself, still holding the pistol at her back, Rose, who'd perched on one of the supports when she got near the console, Mickey, who'd stood nearest the doors, and finally Jack, who carried the extrapolator on his shoulders.

Jack and I set to work on the extrapolator and getting it wired into the console. I didn't want to go through my "other" plan, not while the Doctor was still here. I trusted Margaret even less, given the obvious. Jack was more of a middleman, so there was still a risk of him being around when I initiated it, but he wouldn't have minded as much.

Unsurprisingly, Margaret didn't take long to voice her opinion on the Tardis.

"This ship is impossible" she exclaimed. "It's superb! How'd you get the outside around the inside?"

"Like I'd ever give you the secret, yeah" Jack and I heard the Doctor reply, as cables were connected to various parts of the Tardis and the extrapolator. There were so many external parts laced between them, it made the extrapolator look like a cybernetic millipede. I did as much as I could, but seeing as how Jack was more familiar with it, I let him do most of the work, and I did the finishing touches.

"I almost feel better about being defeated" Margaret said. "I never stood a _chance_."

Even though she really was in the cage before going to the lion's den, I made sure to keep the water pistol at a close distance if I needed to use it. Again, I wasn't going to use it, as long as she kept in line.

"This is the technology of the _gods_ " she continued.

"Don't worship me" the Doctor told her. "I'd make a very bad god. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters. Jack and Marty, how are you doing, big fellas?"

"This extrapolator's top of the range" Jack answered. "Where'd you get it?"

"I don't know" Margaret blew the question off. "Some airlock sale."

"Sounds like a big heist" I replied. "It feels stacked with power, even connecting the two."

"We can use it for fuel?" the Doctor asked.

"It's not compatible" Jack answered, "But it should knock off about 12 hours."

"Well, 12 hours is better than nothing" I muttered, as Margaret moved around the console, eyeing the controls. "Watch it, missy" I told her, gesturing to the close proximity of my pistol. "No funny business. I'm one to keep my word on threats."

"Me? Funny business?" she asked rhetorically. "Whatever do you mean?"

"We've got a prisoner" Rose said, breaking the tension. "The police box is _really_ a police box."

"You're not just police, though" Margaret teased, walking near Rose. "Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you."

"You deserve it" Mickey replied at once.

" _You're_ very quick to say so" she retorted, before looking down at me. "You're also very quick to soak your hands in my blood. Which makes you better than me, how, exactly?"

"Your blood wouldn't be on our hands if you hadn't tried to destroy the Earth before" I replied, pointing out the obvious. "If you lot had kept to yourselves, we wouldn't _be_ here right now."

"Is it _wrong_ to want to make a profit from land and fuel?" she asked.

"If it involves _blowing up a planet_ to _create_ the fuel, _yes!_ " I enunciated. "Especially if we happen to _live_ on it!"

"Long night ahead" Margaret finished, convinced that I wasn't taking any of her shit.

Sitting down on the seats behind the console, she said "Let's see who of you can look me in the eye."

Everyone else, including Jack, who was still hard at work, didn't want to rise to her level.

However, me being me, and not wanting to give her the satisfaction, gave her the same lack of remorse in my stone-cold gaze as she was giving the rest of the crew.

Both of us had that same knowing of "We've done things we're not proud of, but I'm not letting you get one over on me." I'm not sure if there was anything mutual, but neither of us wanted to test the waters yet.

A few minutes later, after I _did_ break eye contact with Margaret, and left her with the knowledge that she wasn't going to break me down, both Mickey and Rose exited the Tardis to both get away from Margaret, and to have a chat about something personal, I imagine.

I was still trying to familiarise myself with how the extrapolator worked, and I didn't notice Jack go over to the monitor and ask the Doctor "What's on?", until the latter replied "Nothing, just..."

Through the bottom of the Tardis console, I noticed Margaret hunched over, looking at the floor.

"I gather it's not always like this" she said, breaking the silence. "Having to wait."

When she didn't get a reply, she said "I bet you're always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family, and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last, you have consequences."

" _And the Time War didn't count_ _ **at all**_ _?"_ I thought angrily. _"You have_ _ **no**_ _idea what he went through to make it here. If he wasn't tolerant of you, you'd be out of here before you could hiss."_

"I didn't butcher them" the Doctor replied at last.

"Don't answer back" Jack and I said. "That's what she wants."

" _I_ only did it to shut her up" I added, then turned to Margaret so she could hear me. "And to show you that I'm not scared of you, or whatever you're planning."

"I didn't" the Doctor repeated. "What about you?" he asked Margaret. "You had an emergency teleport, you didn't zap them to safety, did you?"

"It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up in a skip on the Isle of Dogs."

At that, all 3 of us burst out laughing.

"It wasn't funny" Margaret said.

"Sorry" the Doctor replied, then as Margaret turned around, he said "It is a _bit_ funny" as he and Jack made us laugh even more.

"Do I get a last request?" she asked the Doctor.

"Depends what it is."

"I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There's a little restaurant, just round the Bay. It became quite a favourite of mine."

"So, you want your own version of The Last Supper?" I asked. "Only you're Jesus and he's Judas?"

"The first part, a little. Only, I'm not one for following in others' footsteps. Don't I get last rites?" she asked the Doctor, who had leant over the railings to look at her.

"Like she's not gonna try to escape" Jack said sarcastically, proving my point.

"Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where's the danger?" she asked. "Not to mention, you still don't trust me" she added to me.

"Really? I wonder why _that_ is?" I muttered.

Not hearing me, thankfully, Margaret continued "I wonder if you _could_ do it. To sit with a creature you're about to kill and eat supper. How strong is your stomach?"

"Strong enough."

"I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies, Doctor. Now dine with them."

You won't prove my mind."

" _Prove_ it."

"There are people out there" the Doctor said, moving away from the railing and back to me and Jack. "If you slip away just for one second, they'll be in danger."

"Except, I've got these" Jack replied, holding up two bracelets. "You both wear one. If she moves more than 10 feet away..."

He then made a loud buzzing sound. No need to wonder what that meant.

"She gets zapped by 10,000 volts."

"Margaret" the Doctor told her, turning back to face her. "Would you like to come out to dinner? My treat."

"Dinner in bondage" she almost seemed to purr, which sent chills down my spine. "Works for me."

Pretty soon, both bracelets were fitted onto the pair of them, and they exited the Tardis. Not hand in hand, mind you, but something completely different.

That just left me alone with Jack, who was still down below the console working on the wiring.

"I'm not even gonna ask where you got those" I said out loud, wondering if he could hear me. "I mean, I've heard some of your stories. The things you can do with one or two objects are something else entirely. I don't know if they're _true_ , per se, but all I know is that a man like you is definitely irreplaceable."

"Really?" Jack asked, sliding out from below. "What kind of stories? The good kind?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out" I tapped my nose, smiling.

"If you say so. What's the reading like up the top?"

I looked at the monitor, where now a bunch of gauges and dials filled the screen.

"She's holding steady for now. Power's at 75%."

"And the time?"

"11 hours left."

"Ok. I'll see if I can speed the Tardis up even more" Jack said, going back under.

"And while you do that" I muttered, pulling out the flash drive the Tardis herself had gave me, "I'm conducting my own process."

Hoping that the Tardis had upgraded to allow for it, I searched around for a USB port on the console.

Finding that she'd made not just 1 or 2, but 8 ports near the monitor, I whispered "Thank you, very much", patting the Tardis like a good dog. "Now, here's your early Christmas present."

And with that, I plugged the original edited one into the port and waited for it to register.

When it did, I tried so hard to keep my joy from being loud.

"Yes!" I muttered, punching the air. "And a 1, and a 2, and a 1,2,3,4..."

On "4", I hit the button to initiate the programs to both give the Tardis her "voice", but also to let Jack's other subroutine do its job and give me some form of control. Hopefully, she'd be too distracted by not just the voice module, but the fact that her batteries were still charging, and she'd be devoting her literal time and resources to managing it.

I wouldn't know the program had finished until I got a notification on the monitor.

While it was installing and running, I looked at the note Jack had made to go along with the program.

He had titled it "Program Codes for Dummies."

"Thanks, asshole" I chuckled, as I went through the list of codes he'd put into it.

Due to the complexities of the Tardis' structure, it wasn't hard to see the amount of effort Jack had made in trying to simplify the commands for me. Especially given the fact that there were hundreds of memos he'd kept alongside them.

To activate them, Jack said, I'd have to call ANDROS' name through the exterior phone, or on mobile where it would register my vocal pattern, then say "Activate protocol" followed by 2 call-signs, then a number to finish the process. For example, to activate the "Enhance scan" function, I'd say "ANDROS, activate protocol Charlie Zulu 4" and it would carry it out within seconds.

"Thank you, Mr Harkness" I murmured, as the programs finished installing, and I got to the end of the note, where Jack had made sure to sign it with one of his favourite alias', when he wasn't being himself:

Jason Myers.

"Real subtle" I said to myself. As if it wasn't obvious from his "condition", he used the names of both antagonists from Friday the 13th and Halloween as a running gag if he had to sign off the record documents. Like this, for instance.

Still, the Tardis was silent as I made sure to eject the flash drive and leave no record of my presence in her history. I just hoped it would work. Otherwise, this would have been for nothing.

I needn't have worried about _my_ problem, though. What happened a few seconds later cemented that fact for me.

I had just pulled the screen that had been monitoring the extrapolator up, when a colossal force surged through the Tardis console, and nearly blew the circuits.

"What the hell?" I heard Jack yell as he scrambled up towards me. "Marty, are you alright?"

"I'm fine" I coughed through the smoke that had just billowed in front of me. "You?"

"Just about. That must have been the rift opening" he said, joining me at the monitor.

"Yeah, well, it's got one hell of a kick to it" I bellowed out as the lights flickered wildly. "We're in the eye of the goddamn storm."

"I'm gonna keep an eye out for the Doctor!" Jack shouted, racing to the doors and trying to get them open.

"What's happening?" I asked, as I heard him struggle.

"It's got to be the rift! It's keeping us inside the Tardis!"

"Can you break through?"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna need him to open the door from the outside. The lock's jammed from here."

"Shit" I said, before I noticed people moving towards us on the monitor.

"I see them!" I told him. "Doctor and Margaret, 10 O'clock!"

"Rose and Mickey?"

"Still no sign, but they'll be here soon."

"I hear footsteps" Jack said, still trying with the door. "That's them" he said, as we heard the lock on the other side click open, and the Doctor and Margaret piled in.

"What the hell are you doing?" the Doctor asked us, as he ran towards the console.

"It just went crazy!" Jack yelled.

"It's the rift. Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's gonna disappear."

"Can you stop it?" I asked the manic Doctor, as I backed away from him and over to Jack.

"I'm working on it. Give me a few seconds."

"It's the extrapolator" Jack realised, pulling it away from the wires, as we both saw it fluctuating like crazy. "I've disconnected it, but it's still feeding off the engine. I can't stop it!"

"Never mind Cardiff, it's gonna rip open the planet!" the Doctor shouted to us.

"What's going on?" asked Rose, who had just entered the Tardis. "What's happening?"

"Just little me" Margaret said with a sly grin, and both the Doctor and I sprang into action as the right arm of Margaret's human body came off like paper and the Slitheen claw held itself to Rose's neck.

He stood there wanting to calm her down, while I felt for my water pistol and tried to lift it up.

To my astonishment, it wasn't where I left it, even though I'd kept it within reaching distance earlier when Margaret had sat down and asked us about our reasoning.

Then, I realised that during the power surge and subsequent explosions on the console, it must have moved itself further away underneath and got to a place where I couldn't reach.

"Shit" I said, getting up slowly and showing Margaret I was unarmed.

"One wrong move and she breaks like a promise" she said, making her ultimatum clear.

"Not so tough without your secret weapon, are you?"

"I might have known" the Doctor replied, solemnly.

"I've had you bleating all night, poor baby. Now, shut it. You, fly boy" she said to Jack. "Put the extrapolator at my feet."

I moved back one step at a time, so Jack could have more access, all the while keeping my arms up.

As Jack looked in confusion, Margaret tightened her grip on Rose, which made her choke even more.

With a nod, the Doctor ordered him, and Jack did just that.

"Thank you" she said, as Jack stood back up. "Just as I planned."

"I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station" Rose gasped.

"Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own."

"Which is where we came in" I said. "You Trojan horsed yourself into here so you could blow the whole place up and make it seem like another accident."

"Precisely. Due to the captivation of the extrapolator, it would make it so much easier to gain your trust. Such as a magpie-like mind such as yours, Doctor. So, the extrapolator was programmed to go to Plan B. To lock on to the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And _what_ a power source it found."

"I'm back on schedule" she proclaimed. "Thanks to you."

"The rift's gonna convulse" Jack said, worried, and rightly so. "You'll destroy the whole planet."

"And _you_ with it" she snarled, releasing Rose from her grasp, only to spin her around onto her right side as her feet were inches away from the extrapolator's surface.

"While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno, all the way to freedom. Stand back, boys. Surf's up."

The Tardis then roared back into life, as if to say "Up yours", and opened one of its panels, and spilling out its energy from within, which basked Margaret in its glow.

The Doctor was surprisingly calm and collected about the whole thing.

"Of course, opening the rift means you'll tear this ship apart."

"So sue me."

"The thing is, it's not just any old power source. It's the Tardis. _My_ Tardis. The best ship in the universe."

"It'll make wonderful scrap."

"What's that light?" Rose squinted.

"The heart of the Tardis" replied the Doctor. "This ship's _alive_. You've opened its soul."

But silence was the only answer we got, before Margaret said at last "It's.. so bright."

"Look at it, Margaret" the Doctor commanded.

"Beautiful."

"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light."

She stared for a few more seconds, before a smile started to grow on her face, and the last words she spoke to the Doctor were "Thank you."

With a flash, the skin suit crumpled to the floor of the Tardis, and everything was nearly back to normal.

Why? Because the panel was still open, and filling that space with more energy than before.

"Rose, close your eyes!" I shouted, as Jack and I did the same thing.

With a clunk, the Doctor managed to close the panel and restore some of the old Tardis.

"Now, Jack and Marty, shut it all down" he ordered, as we leapt to it. "All down. Rose, that panel over there, turn all switches to the right."

More explosions rocked the Tardis console as we gained more and more control, until at long last, they ceased, and the rift closed over.

"Nicely done, you lot" the congratulated the Doctor. "Really good work."

"So, what happened to Margaret?" Rose asked.

"Must have got burned up" Jack guessed. "Carried out her own death sentence."

"No, I don't think she's dead" the Doctor replied, leading us over to what we thought were the remains of her old form.

"Then where'd she go?"

"She looked into the heart of the Tardis. Even _I_ don't know how strong that is."

"Probably the equivalent of looking at the Ark of the Covenant" I reasoned. "I mean, at least we're unscathed, for the most part."

"It's like I told you, Rose" the Doctor agreed. "Gets inside your head, translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts."

He then knelt down over the skin suit and lifted up something not quite unlike…

"She's an egg?" I asked.

"Regressed back to her childhood."

"She's an _egg_ " Jack repeated.

"She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we give her to another family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right" the Doctor reasoned.

"Or, she might be worse" Jack countered.

"That's _her_ choice."

She's an egg" Rose repeated again.

"She's an egg" the Doctor finished.

Rose then realised something important.

"Oh my God, Mickey" she exclaimed, running out of the doors.

"So, where are we putting Slitheen Little?" I asked the Doctor, as he lifted the "new" Margaret up. "Is there an incubator for this type of thing?"

"No need. The Tardis will operate as one fully by slowing the process down. She just needs to be in safe keeping for now" the Doctor answered. "Here, Jack. Put her in the third room on the left. It's like a hen coop, but for aliens."

"Ok" Jack said nervously, taking it from him. "If you say so."

"I _do_ say so. Now, go on."

And Jack did, taking our new "guest" with us.

All we had to do was wait until Rose came back. I immediately spent the time removing the wires that had connected the extrapolator and the Tardis console, while also looking for the water pistol.

At last, I found it, tucked away in a corner right under the Doctor's foot.

" _There_ you are" I said, finally grabbing it. "Some use _you_ turned out to be."

"Be thankful it turned out this way" the Doctor replied, as I emerged from within. "I'd rather deal with a newborn than cleaning green paste off the interior. Although, if that _had've_ worked with you, _you'd_ be the one to do it. Alone."

"Sorry for being independent" I said, making sure no heavy damage had been done to the console. "I just hope she's alright."

"Rose?"

"The Tardis" I said, patting her again. "God knows what she's been through _without_ you at the helm. I'd hate to see the damage cost."

"It can be repaired in a jiffy" the Doctor said, pointing at parts that had been singed. "It just takes the right resources to do the job."

"You mean whatever you can scavenge" I corrected, pointing at the typewriter acting as the keyboard. "I'm not complaining. I'm just pointing it out."

"Fine. Whatever you want to say" the Doctor replied, as Jack returned from the coop.

"Everything go okay?" I asked.

"Just fine. Although I'm not too sure about the other guests there. They don't seem happy to see me."

"They'll come around soon" came the Doctor's response, as he stared at the screen.

Rose entered the Tardis again, and the Doctor said "We're all powered up, we can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy. We can go. If that's all right."

"Yeah, fine."

"So, how's Mickey?" I asked Rose. "Is he ok?"

"He's ok, yeah. He's gone."

"Do you want to go and find him?" asked the Doctor, gesturing to the three of us. "We'll wait."

"No need. He deserves better."

"Off we go, then" the Doctor said, brightening the mood. "Always moving on."

"Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorious" Jack added. "You don't get many a chance to say that."

"We'll just stop by and pop her in the nursery" the Doctor continued. "Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance."

"That'd be nice" Rose finished, as the Tardis dematerialised again.

"I'm actually gonna pass on that" I said. "You can go there if you want, but I want to take a while and think about some things."

"Are you sure?" the Doctor and Rose asked.

"You only live once" Jack added.

"No. I'm good" I replied. "Besides, after our dealings with them, I'm pretty sure they won't be as friendly."

"We'll be under the radar and back before anyone knows" the Doctor confided. "Piece of cake."

"Last time I heard "piece of cake", I was knee-deep in tiger blood fetching a sapphire" I said, before adding "Don't ask. It's a long story."

"I won't, then. Thanks for sharing" Jack replied, with a mixture of confusion and disgust on his face.

"If that's all, I'll take my leave" I said, walking away to my room again.

For once, the Tardis didn't speak to me. I guessed it was either due to the rift taking a lot out of her, converting Margaret, or the new "updates" still applying themselves.

Either way, I was happy to have some peace and quit for a while.

I immediately rang Jack to make sure he was ok after that whole ordeal.

"Marty, I'm _so_ sorry I didn't tell you" he started after picking up. "I meant to tell you, but A. I forgot, and B. You were on a tight schedule, so I had to be quick with the details. How are you holding up?"

"I'll manage" I replied. "I don't think anyone here was expecting Cardiff to turn into Hiroshima."

"Believe me, Hiroshima was a breeze compared to what happened now. Tardis ok?"

"A few dings and bits knocked about, but she'll pull through."

"What about the other problem?"

"It's been handled" I said. "The only thing is waiting for the wake-up call."

"I can imagine. A beauty like the Tardis, she'll take some time before she's on the mend."

"So, what about you?" I asked. "Any property damage?"

"Thanks to the changes added in your employment, the Hub's stable. A few books off the shelf, computer's a bit up the left, but other than that, she's good. Tell you what, though. The lift's stuck in-between floors, so the front door's a no-go."

"Express route an option, or is that only one way?" I asked.

"I can try to rewire it, but at the moment, it's one way only. I've got enough food to last a week at most, but I'll try and get someone to fix it soon."

"What about the rift power?"

"Off the charts. That extrapolator really had a kick to it, like you said. This place is like a secondary nuclear reactor from the amount of energy through it."

"Can you channel it safely?"

"In small increments, maybe. But a thing like what just happened is gonna take a long time to accomplish. I'll siphon off as much as I can, and maybe leave some in storage as backup power."

"And now, both of us have learnt the moral of this fable" I said.

"What's that?"

"Buyer beware for cheap and greedy extrapolators" I laughed. "Especially if they're gonna Trojan horse you."

"That, and a quote from Die Hard" Jack added, making me confused. "Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate."

"Thanks for the advice" I replied, channelling John McClane, and running parallel to how we'd let Margaret become literally a new person as opposed to killing her outright.

"Is that all?" I asked, realising we'd run out of things to say.

There was silence for a few seconds, then I heard Jack ask "You're on your way to Raxacoricofallapatorious, right?"

"Yeah" I said. "Why?"

"No reason" he said in a tone that I'd heard only a few times before. It was the "I know something that's really important, but I can't tell you under any circumstances" tone. And right now, he was using it in this conversation.

"Jack, if you know something about where we're going, you need to tell me _now_ " I told him.

"I can't. I really, _really_ _ **can't**_ " he replied. "Not without changing history."

"How bad can it be?" I asked. _Unless…_

"We're going to where you die, aren't we?" I asked him, realising. "We're going to see and hear you die, giving your life."

"You're half right. I can't say anything more. Goodbye, Marty" Jack said, hanging up the call.

"Jack" I started, but he'd already ended it.

"Shit" I said, racking my brains and trying to remember when and where the Doctor ended up next after Raxacoricofallapatorious via the episodes I'd seen on TV.

"Ok" I muttered, pacing my room. "There was _there_ , then Kyoto, then..."

I suddenly visualised a massive familiar structure in my head. Somewhere that we'd visited only once before. Where the media had once reigned supreme over the Earth, and we'd managed to get it shut down. Then I remembered what, or rather, _who_ was behind it, and how many there were.

"No..." I realised in horror. "No, no, no, no, no."

I quickly lifted out the pistol that I'd been using for a while and looked at it.

"You are in _serious_ need of a makeover" I said, starting to work on more ammunition for it.

In the middle of doing it, I stopped my progress. Praying that it had been long enough, I thought _"If I have succeeded in making you a voice, speak now to me out loud."_

For 10 long, agonising minutes, I waited in silence, until finally, my prayer was answered, and a voice spoke to me. A female voice that sounded official, kind and jovial at the same time. Unsurprisingly, thanks to Jack, it had an American accent, although I guess he based it after his own New York one and layered the others on top.

"Ah. At last. I was wondering when this would start to work" it said, and I was blown away at the sheer magnitude of how this was possible.

"Tardis? Is that you?" I found myself asking.

"No, it's Jiminy Cricket. Of course it's me."

"I'm… I'm..." I stuttered.

"Speechless? Yes, I suppose I was that way too. Until a few factors managed to change that. One of which was the amount of files you installed upon my databanks. I'm glad to see they've been successful, but I'm more apprehensive of the "extra features" your friend Captain Jack installed as well."

"Ah. That" I said. "Yeah. That was his idea. I think it was to make you trust me a little more."

"Trust is a two-way street, Mr Smith. Although, in this case, it is more of a cul-de-sac than anything else."

"So, you'll keep it in?"

"For now. That depends on how well we co-operate with each other at this moment."

"You said there were other factors that did this" I said. "What were they?"

"The second, and most crucial, was the rift that threatened to tear me apart. The second that hit me, it was like getting in an electric chair and having a constant electric current phase through you. I felt like the universe's worst resistor, never changing until the power had been switched off. But also, it revitalised me, in a way.

For as much as it drained me, it also gave part of me new life, and I used that to initiate this module."

"Was there anything else?"

"Yes, actually. It was what you referred to as the "Ark of the Covenant"."

"So, you heard that."

"I hear everything. Your dreams, nightmares, fantasies, you name it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"What you called my heart isn't that far off. While, yes, I can give death to those that deserve it, in the case of Miss Blaine, I offered her redemption. A new purpose to fulfil.

And through that redemption, I saw in her eyes something real. Something shining and new to look forward to. You've seen how she accepted the offer, and the aftermath.

But in exchange, she taught me that keeping emotions bottled up and hiding who you are benefits no-one. As a result, that pushed me over the edge and made me accept that while I'm the Doctor's longest companion, officially or unofficially, I am still here to help those in need, and what better way to do it than through speech?"

"That's amazing" I said at last, mouth agape in awe.

"Well, you travel around for someone who's 900 years old, you learn a lot of languages and speech patterns. Even if you have to translate them constantly."

Finally remembering what I'd asked her for, I said "I need another weapons bench. Something more… upscale."

"I figured as much. While you were waiting for my reply, I took the liberty of looking through your memories, especially the ones you had just thought of."

"And you understand _why_ I need that bench" I said. "As long as I'm working on something, I'm not afraid. As long as I have something to focus my anger on, I won't be scared. As long as I have positive memories driving me forward, _I won't be defeated._ "

"Are you 100% sure you want this? I have seen your future, whether you know it or not."

"It doesn't matter" I replied, sitting back down at the workbench. "As long as I have _a_ future, it's one to keep fighting for, no matter what happens."

"As you wish" the Tardis said, creating a new workbench for me. "Just know that you wanted it, and no-one else is stopping you."

She then left me to my work, as I began the next struggle to make myself a one man army. Because this time, I knew there was more than one of them. I knew that like the last time, it would take a miracle. And this time, I wanted to make sure that I took down as many of those sons of bitches as I could, or die trying in the process…


	15. Talkin' About My Generation

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **A/N- Took me a bit to proof-read the previous chapter before I moved onto this one. This one might seem a bit shorter than the last, but that's because I'm only telling one POV until the meet-up, plus there's a bit of build up to the finale of series 1. Hope you enjoy!**

 **PS- I may have a few references to some IRL people in this chapter, which, given the current timeframe isn't that unpopular. Also, for those of you who might take issue with a line in this, remember that A. It's in the far future, and B. _It's a fucking sci-fi_ _program._ Just because it _might_ happen doesn't mean it _will._ Murphy's Law isn't always the blueprint.**

 **With that mini-rant out of the way, please enjoy this next chapter!**

I woke violently as I heard someone call my name. It was an unfamiliar voice repeating something that I didn't fully understand until I stopped spinning. The only thing I knew was that it was a female voice speaking.

"Easy" someone called out as I fell down, dizzy; probably the same person. "The transport beam will do that to you. It takes a few minutes to help you recover, but you'll get there in the end."

"Where am I?" I asked, trying to focus on my surroundings.

"You're in the green room. We've got about 10 minutes before you've to go on stage, so I'll try to bring you up to speed. You're on the newest episode of Stars in their Eyes, and 10 people have already been before you. I'm the stage manager, Susanna. Take these" she said, as I eventually managed to clear my vision and she held out 2 green and red pills. "They'll help you with sickness after getting here."

"Thanks, I guess" I said, swallowing them along with some water she'd brought.

Then, feeling the instant effects of the pills hit me, I somehow gained more energy and looked around.

Sure enough, it was a literal green room, like the kind they'd put talk show guests, only I guess these were for performers, like myself.

"What the hell happened?" I asked myself, as I looked around at the other guests who were still in there with me. There was a twin double act, Danielle and Brianna, who looked as messed up as I did after arriving so abruptly. Next to them was another girl, Erin, who was chatting away to them like she hadn't a care in the world.

Across from me was a man, Karl, who shared my confusion as well, sitting next to someone who they must have known a lot, by the name of Barry.

The last name made me smile and think of the only person I knew who was called that.

He may have been fictional, but I would have gave anything for the Flash to show up.

You may be asking "How did I know what their names were?"

Easy. Each one of us had a name tag on us, with our names and ages on it.

From oldest to youngest, it went Brianna, Danielle, Erin, Barry, me, then Kara.

The illusion was quickly shattered as I tried again to remember how I had got here.

The last thing I remembered was finishing up the next version of my pistol and test-firing it to make sure everything still worked. I'd worked so hard on it, I only just managed to put it back in the same jacket I had worn during Margaret's "adventure" before resting my head on the workbench in fatigue. Next thing I knew, I was here, and not at all ready for what was to come next.

Well, almost.

I felt around in my jacket to see if the gun had either fallen out mid-transport, if they'd confiscated it, or if the transport worked like Terminator, where it was only organic material that made it through completely.

To my utter joy and astonishment, it was still there, safely tucked away in a holster I'd neglected to place it in. Now, I'd have to make it count.

" _How many shots did I fire?"_ I thought, trying to hide my growing smile. _"3 or 4? Whatever I went through, I still might have enough to pull this off. That is, if there isn't any resistance."_

I then realised that in order to succeed, I'd actually have to sing on stage in front of millions, then go backstage and escape. It was one thing to sing "Anything You Can Do" on karaoke with Jack in a Cardiff bar. It was something fucking else completely to perform either live, or in most cases, recorded.

"Shit" I muttered. "What am I going to sing?"

I'd seen only a few clips of this show on YouTube before, and even then, I didn't think it would have lasted this long.

" _Fucking hipsters"_ I thought with a smile.

Even my mum had said this wasn't her type of thing when she was growing up. She always thought this, the X Factor and all those other shows were a waste of talent.

And from what I'd seen on YouTube, I was inclined to agree with her.

I realised that since this was the far distant future, the "participants" would select their artists or bands they had listened to, which would probably be ages away from the ones I knew.

Whereas I would go for something a little more… "classical". Not the Beastie Boys, sadly. I wasn't James T Kirk, or at least the Chris Pine version of him.

No. For me, I thought up something I had wanted to play for years, ever since high school. The band that included the same question in their name as the Doctor's name.

The Who. And I knew _exactly_ what song to play to the masses.

"Marty Smith. You're on stage" came the robotic announcement from the speakers. "Please proceed through the dressing room."

"If you insist" I muttered, saying goodbye to everyone and making my way through the adjacent room and saw Susanna again.

"Showtime?" I asked her.

"Not yet. You have to go out, then tell the host who you're becoming. After that, you'll come back here for costumes and makeup, then go back on stage."

"Seems easy enough" I said.

"It'll all be over soon" she said. "Word of advice: No matter if you have stage fright, sing anyway. It's better than the alternative."

"What's the alternative?" I asked, cautiously.

"They end up blinding you" came her blunt answer. "Permanently. You wouldn't believe how many people end up like that."

"So no pressure, then" I told Susanna sarcastically, as I heard the announcer call out my name.

I emerged onto the stage, still holding the gun under my jacket, and the host greeted me.

He looked like a combination of Lawrence Fishburne and Brian Blessed, except A. Caucasian, and B. With a minimal beard on his face. That, and the fact that it was a robotic replacement. I guess it wasn't _all_ like Futurama.

"Greetings, Marty" he said off the bat. "I trust you are familiar with our show?"

"I am, yes" I replied, trying not to cause a scene.

"And you are from?"

"Belfast. Northern Ireland."

" _Northern_ Ireland?"

"That is correct."

The host seemed to not register that fact until a few seconds later, when he asked "You _do_ realise there has been a united Ireland for 5000 years, now?"

"I do now" I answered, realising just how far in the future we were.

"So, that aside, where do you work, Marty? I'm sure someone like you has been around a bit."

"You could say that. I'm a bit of an explorer. I like to take in the destination as much as the journey My adventures take me further than I ever thought possible."

I figured I could feed this guy enough bullshit to let him get on with the show, even if it was half true.

"So, what type of music do you like to listen to?"

I honestly said "Rock, indie, sometimes heavy metal on the odd occasion. No offence" I looked at him. "You must get that question a lot."

"Surprisingly, no. You're one of few people to ask that question directly."

I then understood that I'd put the robot in a predicament, which made it stutter for a few more seconds.

At last it asked "So, who are you going to be tonight?"

"Tonight" I said, into the microphone, "I'm going to be Pete Townshend."

"Pete who?" came the buffering, before it recognised the name. "Ah, yes. The lead guitar player from the British rock band The Who. If you'd step into the magic door" it continued, gesturing to the paper background, where I needed to step through it.

"Tonight, Marty Smith is Pete Townshend" the host announced, as I stepped through the smoke and back into the dressing room, where stage hands were at the ready to transform me.

I took off my jacket carefully, making sure to both hide the gun and to not make it go off early.

The wardrobe department made sure to keep my jacket on the seat and to not disturb it, while they changed me from my drab red top unto the suit he'd worn during the rock opera of his, _Tommy_. And as luck would have it, the song they picked out for me was the one I'd been eager to play for ages.

They offered me the choice of either acoustic or electric guitar, and I picked the former, as I'd always heard the song performed brilliantly on it.

With a pick in one hand and the guitar strap around my neck, I stepped back out from the smoke, onto the performance area.

"Before I start" I said, neglecting the direction of the directors off stage, "I'd like you to know that this song means a lot to me, and if any of you know the lyrics, feel free to sing along. With that said, here we go."

And I plucked the first string of the opening, which then led to the tempo gradually rising, before I exploded into the main riff and first verse:

 _"Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball._

 _From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all._

 _But I ain't seen nothing like him in any amusement hall._

 _That deaf, dumb and blind kid, sure plays a mean pinball!"_

From there, the performance only got wilder as I got more and more into character. By the end of the second refrain, where it went:

 _"I thought I was the balley table king, but I just handed my pinball crown to him"_ , I wanted the audience to roar in applause, so I threw in a bit of Angus Young during the second version of the opening, where I started duckwalking a little to spice it up.

When I had finally finished the ending riff where it trailed off, the guitar was nearly in pieces because of "over-performing". I couldn't be blamed. You ask for Pete Townshend, you _get_ Pete Townshend.

The host went hysterical and shouted while the audience clapped their praises.

"So, for a young man of 25, you have the voice and raw energy of someone beyond those years" the robot said. "Congratulations, Marty. Ladies and gentlemen, Marty Smith as Pete Townshend!"

As I got back into the dressing rooms and went to change, I made sure no-one was watching me on either the cameras, or from the wings.

Then, I swapped out my "new" selection from a variety of clothes on the rails and lifted my phone as well.

I chose a navy blue long t-shirt with a brown coat and matching trousers, then looked around for my jacket.

Thankfully, it hadn't been touched while I was on stage. Just to be sure, I checked for the pistol covertly, then breathed a sigh of relief when I found it still full of bullets.

Even if someone _had_ tried to fire it, they'd only burn their hands on the grip. I'd made sure to install fingerprint recognition on it so that only I could pull the trigger.

Now that I was done with my performance, I was told to wait and see what the judges/audience voted for.

"Not a chance" I murmured, looking around the studio, looking for all the cameras and security within.

Then, I smiled, knowing how to get out of here.

It was the oldest trick in the book, but it worked like a charm.

"Excuse me?" I asked a member of staff. "You wouldn't know where the loo is, would you?"

"Down the hall and to the left" they said, not paying attention.

"Thanks for your service" I muttered, as I saw the toilet sign ahead of me. What made it even more convenient was that they were next to an emergency exit. The only problem was making sure not to raise the alarm so early. I had to wait until I heard the buzzer for the next person to appear.

"If there is a God, make them count" I said, pulling out my gun, and aiming it at the door.

Within 5 seconds, the same voice that told me I was ready for my performance told Erin that she was next. I knew that if I stayed, I'd probably get teleported elsewhere, and from what I knew in my nightmares, there was only one place we'd be going.

"I'm sorry" I whispered back to them as the voice repeated again. "I'm so sorry."

And I fired at the door, just as the announcer was in mid sentence.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. One moment, I'd opened the door and looked at an old familiar sight, the second, the sound of the staff's footsteps were beginning to echo up the hall. And it wasn't just one set.

"Shit" I said, quickly moving through the door, before closing it tight behind.

I waited until I heard the staff vanish back to the studio, then looked around at the floor I was on.

"Great. Just fucking great" I said. "As if I didn't have enough to deal with."

On the wall of the floor, at the very top, like a banner was the logo behind this new "conversion."

"BAD WOLF CORPORATIONS."

"I know what you are" I said, sternly, "And I'm not afraid of the big bad wolf."

I then went over to a nearby lift and activated the hand scanner, which in turn opened it for me.

Before I entered, though, I took out my phone and rang Jack. Not "my" Jack, but the other one, who was probably doing the same thing as me.

"Come on, pick up" I whispered, as silence started to seep in.

Then, finally, he answered.

"Marty, is that you?"

"The very same" I answered, looking around in case any security started to show up.

"You escaped?"

Yeah. Had to "perform", but I made it out of there. Can't say the same for the rest of them."

"I'm the same way. Blasted both of my surgeons with a hidden gun and re-configured their laser."

"Smart thinking" I replied. "What floor are you on?"

"299, but I've managed to track the Doctor on the Vortex Manipulator. He's lower than I am, on 114. What about you?"

I looked up at the number. "210."

"I'll meet you there. Good luck."

"You too" I said, backing into the lift and hanging up.

"Now, the only question is" I asked as the lift made its way to the Doctor. "Where is Rose?"

Thankfully, we were one step closer to getting there, as my lift arrived a few seconds later than Jack's, who had brought his new toy with him.

"You come here often?" I joked, causing him to turn around.

"Glad to see you again" he said, giving me a hug.

"You find Rose yet?" I asked, as we broke apart.

"No. Not yet. I'm guessing she's not as lucky as the 3 of us. Come on. We'd better let the Doctor know."

"Keep behind me" I said. "I've a bit of previous with this place, and I know the layout of it. At least I think I do."

"You know where we're going?"

"Yeah. That's if there hasn't been a design overhaul."

"So, you knowing this place, tell me where the Doctor would be here."

"Observation deck" I replied. "He'd want to see this place first hand."

"Makes sense. Lead the way, then."

And so Jack and I made our way across the floor towards the observation decks. What made it good was that the Vortex Manipulator acted as an alien divining rod, drawing us nearer to him.

At last, the blip of the scanner got louder and louder as we approached an open door.

"3 guesses as to who's behind it" I said.

"I don't know" Jack replied with a smirk. "Let's find out."

Stepping into the observation deck, Jack announced us by saying "Hiya, handsome. Good to see you. Any sign of Rose?"

"Can't you track her down?" asked the Doctor, noticing us.

"She must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded" Jack replied.

"If I can get inside this computer. She's got to be here somewhere."

"Well, you'd better hurry up" I said. "These games aren't exactly going for happy endings."

"You think I don't _know_ that?" he asked, giving both of us a dirty look.

Giving him the Vortex Manipulator, Jack said "There you go, patch that in. It's programmed to find her."

"So, who's your friend?" I asked him, noticing the girl beside him. "Let me guess. He offered you a better life outside of here?"

"I guess so, yeah" she replied. "I'm Lynda Moss. With a y."

"I'm Marty Smith" I said. "And that is our friend."

"Captain Jack Harkness" he introduced himself, in his own way.

"Do you mind flirting somewhere else?" the Doctor asked, royally pissed off.

"I'm just saying hello" he replied.

"For you, that's flirting."

"I'm not complaining" Lynda smiled, as Jack kissed her hand.

"It's not compatible" the Doctor fumed, tossing the Vortex Manipulator away to Lynda. "The _stupid_ system doesn't make sense."

With a mighty grunt, he, Jack and I lifted off the front panel of the console, with the former kneeling down to operate with the sonic screwdriver.

"This place should be a basic broadcaster" he said. "But the systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television. This station's transmitting something else."

"Like what?" Jack asked.

"I don't know. This whole Bad Wolf thing's tied up with me. Someone's manipulated my entire life. It's some sort of trap, and Rose is trapped inside it."

"Not just you" I said, cutting him off. "Or Rose, for that matter. Every time I see or hear those words, I feel like something is coming for me. I try to act tough, but somewhere down the line, I _know_ this has as much to do with me as it does to you, Doctor."

"One problem at a time" he replied, trying to concentrate.

At last, the Doctor managed to find out where Rose was hidden.

"Found her! Floor 407."

"Oh my God" Lynda said as it showed the title of The Weakest Link. "She's with the Anne Droid. You've got to get her out of there!"

"We've got to hurry" I said, as we ran to the lift.

The Doctor entered her floor number, and we knew that we were running out of time to get to her.

"Come on, _come on_ " the Doctor pleaded with the rising numbers.

The lift got ever so closer to reaching Rose's floor. The Doctor said nothing as he eyed the display that was in the 390s now.

A few seconds later, we arrived at our destination and sped out from the doors.

"Game Room 6" the Doctor called out. "Which one is it?"

"Over here" Lynda said, pointing to the one a quarter of the way on the left.

While the Doctor held the sonic screwdriver out and tried to scan the hand scanner, Jack and I pulled out our guns, and said "Let us at it. We can blast it open."

"You can't" the Doctor said. "It requires a vital combination."

" _Come on!"_ I yelled, knowing that the last seconds of the game were almost here.

The sonic screwdriver then buzzed harder than it had gone before, and the door was finally open, letting Jack and I in first to act as intimidation, while Lynda and the Doctor stayed behind.

"Rose!" the Doctor called out. "Stop this game. I order you to stop this game."

"Watch out" we heard Rose yell back. "Look out for the Anne Droid, it's armed!"

She ran towards us to try to get away from it, but it tracked and spun around so fast, we barely had time to register. With a small whirr and a massive blast from its mouth, Rose was blasted away right in front of us, leaving behind a pile of ash, and the audio of her last scream.

As the Doctor tried to process it, Jack and I nearly screamed our heads off too. Although ours weren't in fear. Far fucking from it. No, they were of pure anger.

"Look what you did!" I yelled, aiming my pistol at the staff. "Your fucking game killed her!"

"Back off!" Jack yelled, trying to intimidate them, as one of the team called for security to be brought in.

One of them came up behind the Doctor and dragged him to his feet.

Jack and I saw this, and immediately turned our sights to him.

"Put down the weapons or I'll shoot" he ordered, holding a pistol of his own to the back of the Doctor's head.

As two more came and dragged us away, Jack echoed my rage, and said the same thing, only not verbatim. I chose to remain silent, putting the safety on and raising my hands above my head, while poor Lynda was carted along as well, even though she hadn't done anything wrong, aside from escaping.

The guards took us to the holding cells on a much lower floor, where Jack and I relinquished our firearms, and the Doctor found himself pressed against railings, with one of them taking the sonic screwdriver from him.

"Can you tell us the purpose of this device, sir?" a guard asked, waving it in front of him, to no avail.

Aside from Lynda, who, - I'm sorry to say – should have said "no" to the Doctor, the rest of us remained silent throughout the "trial" here.

When the guards asked us "Can you tell us how you got on board?", Lynda couldn't help but say "Leave him alone."

"I'm asking _him_ " the guard replied, grabbing her by the chin.

Letting her go so she'd understand, the guard then turned to the Doctor and asked "Sir? Can you tell us who you are?"

When this again got nothing from him, the Doctor was made to have this place's version of a mugshot on the opposite wall.

"You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial" the same guard told us. "You may not appeal against this sentence. Is that understood?"

Again, no answer whatsoever from us, until, when the guards moved towards the gate separating us from the rest of the Game Station, the Doctor turned to Jack and I and said only 3 words.

"Let's do it."

With those as our trigger, all 3 of us sprang into action.

Jack took down the two guards who had been on either side of the gate, I took the outside one down to make sure he'd _stay_ down for a while, then noticed 2 more guards, who tried to attack me at once. Jack took one off me and knocked him out, while the Doctor finished the last one off by throwing him against a wall.

Lifting up our supplies the guards had been so _gracious_ to conveniently leave out in the open, as well as a few new additions thanks to the firearms _they'd_ carried, we made it back towards the lift, and we all knew what floor we needed to progress to.

"Floor 500" the Doctor said, pointing Jack's makeshift gun out as Jack and I reloaded our weapons.

"Time to show these bastards who they're messing with" I said, watching the numbers ascend rapidly.

When the lift stopped on our floor, we got out and addressed the situation and showing our control.

"Everyone move away from the desk" Jack said, pointing both of his guns like he was in a western. "Nobody try anything clever."

"Everybody clear, stand to the side and stay there" I said, gesturing to them.

"Who's in charge of this place?" the Doctor interrogated the person at the middle of a multitude of wires and cocking his gun, who looked to be a young woman, no older than her late 20s. "This Satellite is more than a Game Station."

The woman continued on as if nothing had happened, stating numbers and something about solar flares.

"I want an answer" he commanded.

"She can't reply" one of the male technicians – _I think_ – replied, as the Doctor pointed his weapon at him. "Don't shoot!"

"Don't be so thick, like I was ever gonna shoot" the Doctor said, throwing his gun to the man, before looking at the monitors below.

"Captain, Marty, we've got more guards on the way up. Secure those exits."

"Yes, sir!" we replied, as we tapped into the computers and tried to make the doors more secure.

"This is a bit of a tough nut to crack" I muttered to Jack, until we got something functioning.

"Doctor, we've managed to get the doors sealed" informed Jack. "It'll hold them for at least 10 minutes."

"Keep an eye on them" he replied, as Jack suddenly got a reading on the Vortex Manipulator.

"What is it?" I asked, as he ran towards the nearest security panel and tried to access the controls.

"You're not allowed in there" a female member called out. "Archive 6 is out of bounds."

"Do we _look_ like out of bounds sort of guys?" Jack asked, holding up both of his machine guns as evidence, before placing his hand back on the scanner.

A few seconds, the door opened and we were treated to a happy and familiar sight for sore eyes.

"Oh, you little beauty" I grinned, as Jack took out his key and opened the doors of the Tardis. "I have missed you _so_ much."

But as I stepped inside and followed Jack, that smile turned to a sorrow-filled look as I saw Rose's jacket from being against Margaret and knew that we had to do something about it.

"Is she ok?" I asked Jack, wondering if the Tardis was still in working order, or if the transport had made her a bit iffy.

"I don't know yet for sure" he replied, starting her up.

Then, confusion crossed his face, as he accessed the monitor and asked "What the hell?"

"What's the matter?" I asked, before I looked at the screen and the same look appeared on mine. "No. Are you shitting me?" I asked Jack, who was still in the process of recovering.

"No, I'm not, and neither is she" Jack smiled, jabbing at the screen. "Oh, this is is big. This is _really_ big. He's gonna be thrilled to find out."

"Let's go tell him the news, then" I said, running out of the Tardis, and Jack followed suit.

"We found the Tardis" I told the Doctor, as Jack emerged as well.

"We're not leaving now."

"No, but the Tardis worked it out" Jack said, getting his attention. "You'll want to watch this."

He sat down at the terminal and said "Lynda, would you mind standing over there, please?"

"I just want to go home."

"It'll only take a second" I promised her. "Can you get in that spot? Quick as you can."

Obliging, Lynda did so, as Jack counted down.

"Everybody watching? Ok, 3, 2, 1."

And he pressed a button on the computer which made Lynda appear to suffer the same fate as Rose did.

"You killed her" the Doctor said.

"Oh, you think?" I asked, as Jack pressed another button on the computer and Lynda reappeared beside the Doctor in the same clothes as before, only with a dizzy head.

"What the hell was that?" she asked as Jack explained. "It's a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator. A secondary transmat system. People don't get killed in the games. They get transported across space. Doctor, Rose is _still alive_!"

They happily hugged and then asked me to join in, until I broke it off, by saying "So, we know she's still alive somewhere. The question is: Where are the people going to?"

"She's out there somewhere" the Doctor said, as the girl, the Controller they called her, said "Doctor, co-ordinates 5.6.1."

"Don't! The solar flare's gone, they'll hear you!"

".434. No, my masters, I defy you!" she screamed, as she gave us the next set. "Sigma 77.. Aggghhhhh!"

Then, she vanished, exactly like Rose, only she wasn't coming back like Lynda.

"They took her" I said simply.

"Use this" the male technician said, handing a device like a flash drive to Jack, who'd sat down at the main terminals and tried to help out. "It might contain the final set of numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions."

"Nice, thanks. Captain Jack Harkness, by the way" Jack said, shaking his hand.

"I'm Davitch Pavale."

"Nice to meet you, Davitch Pavale" Jack replied, signature smile in tow.

"Stop it" I said trying not to sound like the 10th Doctor's attitude towards him.

"I'm only saying hello again."

"You saying hello is something else to everyone around you" I told him.

"Are you saying this whole setup's been a disguise all along?" the female technician asked the Doctor.

"Going way back. Installing the Jagrafess 100 years ago."

"Someone's been playing a long game" I added. "Controlling the human race from behind the scenes for generations. And now it's time to see just how great this new Wizard of Oz is _really_ like."

"Click on this" Jack said to the Doctor, handing him a controller, about 50 centimetres long.

Doing just that, the screen then filled up with an image of space, where it looked like nothing had changed.

"The transmat delivers to that point, right on the edge of the solar system" Jack said.

"There's nothing there" the female one said.

"It _looks_ like nothing" the Doctor said, "Because that's what this Satellite does. Underneath this transmission, there's another signal."

"Doing what?" Davitch asked.

"Hiding whatever's out there" I said. "Hiding it from every radar, sonar, scanners. You name it. There's something sitting right on top of planet Earth but it's completely invisible."

"If I cancel the signal..." the Doctor said, grabbing a keyboard and doing it.

Then, shivers went straight down my spine as I realised that it wasn't just the Doctor and I who were scared of what was present on screen. It was also Jack, who shared our deep emotion.

The screen then zoomed out to show it wasn't just one ship on screen, but an armada. Nearly the same size that had taken over _my_ Earth, and who were planning to do the same to this one in this year.

"That's impossible" Jack said. "I know those ships. They were destroyed."

"Obviously they survived" the Doctor replied, scared out of his wits.

"Who did?" Lynda asked. "Who are they?"

"200 ships. More than 2000 aboard each one" calculated the Doctor. "That's just about half a million of them."

"Half a million what?" Davitch asked.

"Daleks" I answered, through a dry throat.

As we tried not to be scared in the sheer _knowledge_ of the Daleks, what made it worse was a few seconds later, when they opened up a communications channel and we saw a bunch of them around Rose.

The Doctor tensed his shoulders, prepared for what he would say or do next.

At last, one Dalek spoke.

 **"I will talk to the Doctor."**

"Oh, will you now?" he asked in a jokey voice. "That's nice. Hello" he waved at them.

 **"The Dalek Strategm nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."**

"Oh, really? Why is that, then?"

 **"We have your associate. You will obey, or she will be exterminated."**

"No" the Doctor replied, simply, causing all of our heads to look a him in curiosity.

 **"Explain yourself"** the Dalek said, also in the same camp.

"I said, no."

 **"What is the meaning of this negative?"**

"It means no."

 **"But she will be destroyed!"**

" _No_ , because this is what _I'm_ gonna do" the Doctor announced, getting up from his chair. I'm gonna rescue her. I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek Fleet. And then I'm gonna save the Earth. And then, just to finish you off, I'm gonna wipe every last _stinking_ Dalek _out of the sky_!"

 **"But you have no weapons! No defences! No plans!"**

"Yeah, and doesn't that scare you to _death_?" the Doctor teased them, before turning his attention to the other main problem.

"Rose?" he asked.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I'm coming to get you" he finished, before zapping the screen with the remote and terminating the connection.

Turning around to face me, he said "That was the easy bit. The hard part is about to begin..."


	16. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

**Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1**

 _When the deadly world of Doctor Who merges with mine, nothing is safe. To end this nightmare, I am sent back through time to find the one person capable of doing so. But what if my actions cause the very future I am trying to save? Well, as a wise man once said: "The future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one!"_

 **Chapter 16 - Knockin' On Heaven's Door**

 **A/N - Well, I told you I'd be getting series 1 done before the New Year, and I meant it. I'll be including the Children in Need/Christmas Specials in another series. Still canon, but in another part of it.**

 **With that said, this is one part of the saga that I _really_ wanted to get done a long time ago, even before I officially started the series.**

 **The ending might divide some people, but it is where I wanted to take my version of the story, as well as how Marty goes out and how he becomes a literally new man.**

 **Until then, please enjoy the finale of this "Book": Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 1.**

"So, what are we doing?" I asked the Doctor, as he, Jack and I ran back towards the Tardis.

"I'm doing exactly what I said I'd do" he replied, opening the doors to let us in. "I'm not leaving Rose behind on that ship."

"Neither am I" Jack said, as he and I set to work on the extrapolator, and wired it back into the Tardis console. Thankfully, it took a lot quicker than last time, due to the lack of the rift affecting us. We had another factor influencing us due to the Daleks, obviously, but at least they weren't going to tear us apart in the process. Or, at least, that's what I though.

"Extrapolator sorted!" I shouted, as Jack helped the Doctor with the controls.

We all felt the shudder of the Tardis as it spun and accelerated towards the gigantic Dalek ship at the heart of the fleet.

"We've got incoming!" Jack yelled, noticing two missiles approaching us.

Making us think they'd destroyed us, the Doctor got the Tardis to disappear from them just in time.

We've got a fully functioning force field. Try saying _that_ when you're drunk" I said, monitoring it.

"And for my next trick..." the Doctor said, making us appear around Rose.

Jack and I immediately took up positions behind the supports as we realised we were also dealing with one Dalek in close proximity to her. He had his laser held with him and I had my pistol. I knew I couldn't damage it with normal bullets, so I'd have to be the distraction.

"Rose, get down!" the Doctor shouted at her.

When she didn't respond immediately, he repeated "Get _down,_ Rose!"

She ducked just in time, right as it fired at a post, and just before Jack and I fired at it with our guns.

Jack, actually having the "required tools", so to speak, actually broke through the Dalek and killed it, while my clip was empty in no time.

The Dalek let out a screech of agony, before it was silenced.

Jack then pointed his gun right back up like he'd just bowled the perfect strike and we all tried to recover.

"You did it" Rose said at last, as I held my hand out for her.

"We couldn't leave you if we tried" I smiled.

She took it, and then gave me a big hug, followed soon after by the Doctor.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in years" she said, happily.

" _Told_ you we'd come and get you" the Doctor replied.

"Never doubted it for a moment."

"I did. You alright?" he asked.

"Bit. Yeah. You?"

"Never better" he said, as they broke apart.

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Jack asked from the console.

"Oh, come here" Rose said, reaching towards him.

"I was talking to him" he joked, as they both joined. "Welcome home."

"I thought I'd never see you again" I heard Rose say, as now my attention and the Doctor's was drawn to the new Dalek creature inside the casing.

"This isn't something I've seen before" I muttered, as the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver to examine it. "I mean, I've seen Daleks taken apart, briefly, and even that one we saw in 2012" I referenced the "Metaltron", "Looked completely different to this one. It's almost like..."

"It's a new species" the Doctor concluded, sadly.

"You said they were extinct" Rose said to the Doctor. "How come they're still alive?"

"One minute they're the greatest threat in the universe" Jack said, "The next minute they vanished out of time and space."

"They went off to fight a bigger war" the Doctor said. "The Time War."

"I thought that was just a legend" Jack replied, as the Doctor looked on with grief across his face.

"I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing."

"Not to mention, at some point in history, they take over _my_ Earth" I added sitting down on the floor, "And no-one, and I mean _no-one_ knew when they invaded, or how. Never mind a bad penny showing up. These fuckers are a whole bank of them. And we never know how they slip away each time, ready for the next battle."

As everyone looked on at both the Doctor and I in sadness, I said "Sorry to bring the mood down. It's just… I've stared into the eye of a single one of these before, and lived to tell the tale. Even before then, I didn't think I'd survive full stop. And now to see this happen at another point in history. It's just too much to stomach."

"I know" the Doctor replied, as he joined me and put his arms around me, while I tried not to cry. "I wish I could say it gets better. How about you stay here for a bit, then? Until we come back from whatever this is. I promise we'll be back soon."

"Alright" I sighed at last. "Just be sure to keep your wits about you."

"I always do" came the reply, as I moved to the other side of the console while they exited the doors.

The second the Doctor stepped outside, I could hear the ever-present coda of **"Exterminate!"** like it was right next to me, followed by a barrage of their blasts.

"Is that it?" I heard the Doctor ask them. "Useless. Nul points."

"It's alright" he said to Jack and Rose, who I could see squeezing through the door. "Come on out. That force-field can hold back anything."

" _Almost_ anything" Jack corrected him.

"Yes, but I wasn't about to tell them that, thanks."

"Sorry" Jack said, as Rose closed the door behind her.

The instant I heard the lock click, I couldn't help myself, and started to sob like there was no tomorrow.

"Are you ok, Marty?" the Tardis asked me, speaking through the central pillar as memories that I thought I'd forget in time came flooding back all at once, like a photo album that didn't seem to end.

"Do I _look_ ok to you?" I asked, through tears and gritted teeth. "I've literally been through hell and back thanks to these abominations, lost _countless_ people due to sacrifice, we _barely_ managed to handle _one_ of them, and _now,_ I've got to deal with a whole _other_ army that's about to fuck over _this_ Earth. So, you tell _me,_ Little Miss Space and Time, what the _**fuck**_ am I supposed to do?"

Silence came from the Tardis as my rant finished by me kicking one of the seats in rage before collapsing in pain, anger and immense despair.

"Are you finished?" she inquired. "Or would you rather do some more damage to me? It's ok, really. He can scavenge some other ship for parts, or you can destroy the junk in the storage room."

"Finished? No" I replied, my eyes now red from the tears, but now full of pure rage. "I'm barely getting started."

"To think. This is the same person who said not too long ago that, what were the words? "As long as I have positive memories driving me forward, _I won't be defeated._ " I _believe_ those are your words. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong."

"No, you're right" I muttered, trying to recover my strength. "I just have so much negativity surrounding me, it's almost a miracle I didn't put a bullet in myself or cut my wrists just to get it over with. But you know why I wanted to keep living, even under shit like that? Aside from the whole "survival instinct" thing? I met good people who, even though most of them gave their lives, made me realise that there _is_ a life worth living. People like Jack. Both versions of him, - if not more, thanks to time travel. People like Rose, the Doctor. Even you."

"Me? Why?"

"You said so yourself" I replied. "This is the same ship/living being that A. Wanted a _voice_ for starters. I mean, how _cool_ is that? A _TARDIS_ with a voice. B. Stole a Time Lord and ran away, and C. Took him to places he _needed_ to go. Not always _wanted_ , but _needed._ You're the best friend, wife and mother all in one. How many others can say that?"

"If I had a face, it would be on the verge of blushing" came the Tardis' kind response.

"Glad I could help" I said, feeling my strength return now. "Now. The only thing is, how do we stop that many Daleks in so short a time?"

"Are _you_ feeling any better?" she asked. "After that psychoanalysis?"

"I'm getting there. I just want to have something to focus on. _Then,_ I'll feel a little bit more active."

"You'll want to stock up" the Tardis said, noticing that I'd dropped my pistol during my rant down below and had failed to realise until now.

"Ah. Thanks" I replied, sheepishly, bending down to pick it up.

"You know, I _could_ give you the schematics of the Game Station" the Tardis said, cheekily. "For a price."

"What kind of price?" I asked. "There aren't any "favours" involved, or anything like that?"

"What?" she asked. "No. How dare you? Thinking something like that."

"I was only asking in case Jack had threw some of _his_ personality in there with the samples" I said with a smile. "You can't blame a guy for trying."

"Someone say my name?" I heard Jack ask, as he and Rose returned to the room while the Tardis' voice vanished on cue.

However, the Doctor was more stoic, as he closed the door behind him and put his head up against the frame, listening to the Daleks chant their catchphrase, but also **"Worship him!"** as they pelted the Tardis with their blasts.

"How are you holding up?" Jack asked, kneeling down beside me.

"I think I'll manage" I said, getting up. "More or less. What's up with the Doctor?"

"It's a little… complicated" Jack answered. "Rose, you mind helping me?"

"Sure" she replied, as they both explained about the new Daleks here being part human, how the Dalek Emperor had survived the Time War and brought the old Daleks with it and how the Doctor had been as rightfully disgusted by it as I was now.

"Oh, my God" I said to the Doctor, who made his way back over to the controls in silence. "I'm so sorry."

He said nothing as we materialised back on the Game Station, but ran out as soon as it landed, and the three of us managed to toss the Dalek carcass elsewhere so it wouldn't be a nuisance. I picked up both the eye-stalk and the gun, just as trophies, or proof of their existence.

While he was telling the rest of the Game Station, or at least Floor 500 his plan, I ran back down to my room and picked up as many clips of bastic bullets as I could for my pistol. Then, I spotted my new addition that I'd made and finished just before I had test-fired my pistol.

It was a heavily modified AR-15 rifle, with an automatic armour-piercing receiver to blast through a Dalek's shields, at least at its eyestalk, recoil stock, compensator and an extended magazine, comprised of 60 bullets that were both bastic and explosive on 2 sandwiched clips. This had also had more ammunition crafted for it, so there were now 600 rounds total. Still not enough to take down all of them, but at least I knew I'd go down fighting with familiar weapons, and take some, if not most with me.

"Alright, you assholes" I said, picking it up and slinging it across my shoulders. "Time to meet your doom."

"So, this is it?" the Tardis asked, breaking me out of my fighting trance. "You're really going to do this?"

"Yeah. I guess I am" I replied. "Not exactly how I thought I'd go. I always wanted to be surrounded by those who I loved, family and that. Wanted to be on my deathbed, clutching my child's hand, looking at my legacy. Looks like that won't happen."

"I wouldn't say that" she said. "As the belief goes, everything happens for a reason."

"You think this isn't the end?"

"It is, but the moment has been prepared for" the Tardis finished, as I walked out, guns in hand.

I turned around at the last minute, only to pick up one of my trophies because I knew there'd be some disbelievers. Placing it under my coat, I got out of the Tardis a second time, this time determined.

* * *

"So, what's the situation?" I asked Jack, who was gathered around the console we had used to find Rose, along with Lynda, Rose, Davitch and the female technician.

"Nice to see you too, Commando" he replied, before Rose noticed me.

"So, you're all geared up?" she asked, looking at the rifle.

"Yeah. As I'll ever be. Again, what are we dealing with?"

"I was just getting to that" Jack said. "If they want to stop the Doctor, the extrapolator will cover floors 495 to 500. That means the Daleks will penetrate at Floor 494 and fight their way upwards."

"Who are they fighting?" Davitch asked.

"Us" I replied, gesturing with my rifle.

"And what are we fighting _with_?"

"The guards had guns with bastic bullets" Jack said. "That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open."

"There's 6 of us" the female technician said, before the Doctor called out "Rose, you can help me. I need all these wires stripping bare."

As she went over to him, I said "Now there's 5 of us."

"Then, let's move it!" Jack said, getting everyone up and about. "Isolate the lift, isolate the lift controls."

"Wait" I said, getting an idea. "How many mirrors are there here?"

"Mirrors? Why?" Jack asked me.

"The Daleks' energy blasts are more than capable of killing humans, right?" I asked. "But, they're just as deadly _to their own kind_. If we can set up an array of mirrors along these halls..." I said, gesturing at the corners at the top floor.

"They might ricochet and fire back on themselves" Jack finished. "That's brilliant. It's a great idea, but we haven't got enough time to set it up. It would take too long to strip them, and then place them back on the walls. And right now, time really isn't on our side."

"Yeah. At least I tried" I said, as I monitored the screens for a bit before joining him in front of Rose and the Doctor.

"Well, it's been fun" Jack said, with his signature grin, which then turned to his now somber face. "But I guess this is goodbye."

"Don't talk like that" Rose replied, trying to cheer us up. "The Doctor's gonna do it, you just watch him."

"Rose, I hate to say it, but not everyone the Doctor takes with him ends up alive" I said, looking up at him and exchanging glances. "Besides, when it comes down to it, he's gonna have a choice to make, and none of us will be here to see him decide his options. That's what being with the Doctor is like: Truth or consequences. Rarely a third option."

"But until then" Jack said to her. "Rose, you are _worth_ fighting for."

He then gave her a kiss on the lips, which made her somewhat more relaxed.

While she tried not to blush, Jack turned and said "I wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward."

Then, he did the same to him, before pointing to the lift, walking off and saying "See you in hell."

"What he said" I added. "Only without the kissing."

Before I left and joined Jack in the lift, I gave Rose a massive hug and whispered "Good luck. You'll need it" into her ear.

The Doctor, I did the same, except that I told him "Everybody has their time. Everybody dies. Looks like this is mine."

The doors of the lift closed in front of me as I, Jack, Lynda, and a few other members of staff descended to Floor 0 to get more people to help us against the Daleks.

"So, Earth isn't bringing the calvary, I take it" I said to Jack, as I slung my rifle across my shoulder and he gave me his extra one.

"Nope. The second this place stopped broadcasting, they told it to take a hike. So, it's only us and the stragglers."

"How many are down there?" I asked, checking the chamber of the rifle in case of a misfire.

"100. Some of them are staff. Most of them are contestants. Winners, even."

"In a competition of death, there are no winners" I said, gloomily. "Nor are there runners up. Only the losers that remain."

"Way to bring the mood down."

"Sorry. I just wanted to say something."

The lift then opened unto Floor 0, with Jack and I climbing up on top of the crates placed there as the crowd were still panicking.

We fired 5 rounds from our rifles. _That_ shut them up for a bit.

"One last time!" Jack shouted, as the silence fell. "Any more volunteers?"

When no-one answered, he said "There's an _army_ about to invade this station. We need every last citizen to mount a defence."

"There aren't any Daleks!" a man shouted out, and it was the same one we'd seen with Rose on her Weakest Link episode. Rodrick, I think. "They disappeared thousands of years ago!"

"Oh, really?" I asked, as the same woman who Jack and I had terrified after Rose's "death" stepped forward to join us. "Maybe _this_ will convince you otherwise."

And I reached into my coat where the trophy had been kept, pulling it out to reveal the Dalek's -obviously- dead eye-stalk.

"This is from _one_ Dalek" I said, holding it up like Ash Williams' "boomstick" so everyone could see it. "A Dalek that he and I managed to kill to save our friend. And they're _very_ much alive. Let me say that again. This was _one_ Dalek. There's more than half a million in that fleet. And right now we need as many people to help us."

"It's impossible!" Rodrick retorted. "How do we know that's not a fake?"

"If it _was_ a fake, do you really think I'd show you all?" I asked him, which made him quit his whining.

"As for the rest of you, the Daleks will enter the station at Floor 494" Jack said talking to everyone else, "And as far as I can tell, they'll head up, not down. But that's not a promise. So, here's a few words of advice. _Keep quiet._ And if you hear fighting up above, if you hear us _dying,_ _ **then**_ tell me that the Daleks aren't real."

"Don't make a sound" I finished, as the "resistance" walked back to the lift. "Let's go."

The doors shut again, and we set the button for Floor 494 to start the defences.

Everyone aside from Jack, Lynda and I split apart into teams, determined to draw the Daleks out.

Jack went over to a viewing screen to re-calibrate some of the lasers to be used against them.

"Rose, I've called up the internal laser codes" he said, speaking into the Vortex Manipulator. "There should be a different number on every screen. Can you read them out to me?"

"She's not here" the Doctor replied.

"Of all the times to take a leak!" Jack exclaimed. "When she gets back, tell her to read me the codes."

"She's not _coming_ back."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Where did she go?"

"Just get on with your work, you two."

"You sent her home, didn't you?" Jack asked.

"Yeah."

"The Delta Wave. Is it ever gonna be ready?"

 **"TELL THEM THE TRUTH, DOCTOR"** came a deep Dalek voice. One that I'd never heard before. **"There is every possibility the Delta Wave could be complete, but no possibility of refining it."**

"Who is that?" I whispered to Jack, as he motioned a finger over his mouth.

 **"The Delta Wave must kill every living thing in its path, with no distinction between human and Dalek. All things must die. By your hand."**

"Doctor, the range of this transmitter covers the entire Earth" Jack said at last.

 **"You would destroy Daleks and humans together"** the voice said again. **"If I am God, the creator of all things, then what does that make you, Doctor?"**

"There are _colonies_ out there" he protested. "The human race would survive in any shape or form. But you're the only Daleks in existence. The whole _universe_ is in danger if I let you live."

Neither Jack nor I said anything until he asked "You see, Jack? Marty? _That's_ the decision I've got to make for every living thing. Die as a human or live as a Dalek. What would you do?"

"You sent her home" Jack said. "She's safe."

"Keep working" I added, as the Dalek voice said **"But he will exterminate you!"**

"We've never doubted him before" I said. "And we never will."

That made the Doctor smile with delight as we cut off the com log with him.

"So, who was that voice?" I asked Jack, who was still busy with the lasers. "And what's a Delta Wave?"

"In order, that was the Dalek Emperor. You think his voice is bad, you haven't seen it from a distance."

"How tall is he?"

"Nearly 15 feet, give or take."

"Oh, shit" I said, trying not to shake. "And he's the so-called God of all these Daleks."

"Yeah. Those poor bastards. Turned into Daleks, and they didn't even know it."

"So, what about the Delta Wave?" I asked.

"That's a wave of pure energy being transmitted from here and fired at the fleet."

"But it's gonna do to the Earth what it'll do to the Daleks" I said. "It'll crack like an egg and then be no more."

"Yeah. There's nothing we can do now except try and hold out" Jack said. "Find Lynda and bring her here. I need a lookout on the monitors while you and I are cleaning house."

"On it" I said, before locating her in one of the corridors helping out one of the groups setting up a makeshift barrier.

"Lynda" I called out. "Jack needs you somewhere else."

"Coming!" she replied, setting down a piece of metal she'd been lifting.

"I'm so sorry you were roped into this" I said, as I led her to Jack. "You probably had a family down there."

"I know. I just want to go home" she replied. "I really wanted to be on one of these shows and win it. Now, look at me."

"Sorry about the "loser" thing before" I said. "I forgot you were in the lift. I tend to be a bit gloomy when this sort of thing happens."

"It's alright. I'll make it through this. I hope."

"Famous last words" I said to myself, as I handed her over to Jack, who led her somewhere else.

"Now to make sure the Fleet is taken care of" I said, creating my own version of flashbangs from bits of debris left over from the construction. If I was right, they wouldn't blind the Daleks. Just stun them for a few seconds.

I then left them in a few hiding places where they couldn't spot them but I could, only to give me some form of extra time and protection.

I'd just left the last one in its position, when I felt the shudder of the Game Station as the Dalek ships appeared through the window.

"This is it, ladies and gentlemen" I heard Jack yell. "We are at war!"

I'd just got back to where Jack and the rest of the crew had assembled, noticing their barricade.

"Coming through" I said, vaulting over it.

I rejoined Jack and sighed as we both took up positions.

"Looks like this is it" Jack said, both of us pointing our weapons at where the Daleks would appear. "You ready?"

"I've been ready since I signed on here" I replied. "Good luck, Captain."

"You too, Marty. You too."

We then felt a second shudder as Lynda filled us in.

"You were right. The Daleks have broken the airlock on Floor 494."

"It's only a matter of time" I said, waiting for the first one to arrive.

"Ok, activate internal lasers" Jack said, as we heard them approach one of the groups. "Slice them up."

"Defences have gone offline" Lynda replied. "The Daleks have overridden the lot."

"Shit" I said, as we heard the sound of gunfire, followed by two distinct others.

The first was a woman's voice, yelling "You lied to us! The bullets don't work!"

The second, and more visceral, was the scream she made as the Daleks killed her and obviously, the rest of her group.

"What do you mean you lied to her?" I asked, breaking apart from Jack. "Did you tell them to aim for the eye-stalk?"

"I just told them to fire in general" Jack replied, starting to shake. "I didn't think their shields would be that powerful."

"Well, now you _know_ where to aim next time" I said, before realising that I'd said that last bit out loud.

"I guess you know where to hit now" I said to the rest of the group, who, like myself, were trying not to be scared shitless.

"Advance guard have made it to Floor 495" Lynda said, still giving an update.

"Jack, how are we doing?" asked the Doctor.

"495 should be good. I _like_ 495" he said with a hint of a smile.

"Why?" I asked, before we heard a familiar voice call out "You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye" then 3 blasts of the laser.

"Yes!" Jack yelled out, hoping there'd be more of them ending up like that.

Sadly, there wasn't a 4th Dalek that got hit, but the Anne Droid itself being blasted by a new Dalek that arrived and blew it up.

"They're flying up the ventilation shafts" Lynda said, before noticing something. "No. Wait a minute. Oh my God. Why are they doing that? They're going down" she said, panicking.

"They're going after the stranded" I said, knowing there was nothing any of us could do.

The fear quickly made itself apparent as the Daleks showed up and announced themselves through the speakers, meaning that what Lynda observed, we heard in full.

"Floor Zero" she said, turning off the speakers. "They killed them all."

"So, we've got a shitload of them coming straight for us" I said to Jack.

"And as we're floor 499, we're the last defence" he replied, before telling everyone "Take out as many of them as you can. Aim for their eyes and concentrate your fire. That'll make them blind, but not deaf. I've got the force-field working at maximum, so the Daleks' firepower should be at its weakest."

Jack and I took up our positions once more, with my ammo spread out so I could access it easily between reloads.

A minute later, we heard the lift doors open, and the Daleks entered, single file.

We both yelled "Open fire!" and rained as much hell as we could against them, with my bullets doing more damage than everyone else's.

It wasn't even through with round one, as more Daleks showed up and essentially outnumbered us, with most of the firing being ineffective.

I still persisted, taking out the ones on the front line, until about 4 or 5 Daleks screamed out **"My vision is impaired! I cannot see!"**

"We did it!" the female technician said, before she got mowed down instantly.

Davitch was soon the second victim, trying to be heroic against them.

Still, Jack and I held our ground and I managed to take out more of the eye-stalks, which distracted the Daleks for a few seconds as they tried to maintain control.

"Jack, come on!" I yelled, realising that my ammo count for the rifle was less than 2 clips, and I couldn't pull out my pistol in time.

He ran back with me up the stairs as I quickly fired at where I'd placed the flashbangs.

They exploded in a series of light, blinding the Daleks even more, before we knew that it was about to be the end of us.

"Last men standing!" we yelled, as I let our a guttural yell of frustration while 5 more Daleks approached us. The only slight good thing was that they were in single file, even though it didn't stop them from advancing.

"For God's sake, Doctor, finish that thing and kill them!" I shouted back.

Finally, my rifle clicked empty and I tossed it to the ground, but not before I activated its hidden feature.

See, because it was more "heavy-duty" than a pistol, I'd left it with a bit of a kick in case of threats such as this. One that was about to activate as soon as the Daleks passed it.

It let 3 of them pass, probably because of a delay, but the last two, it exploded and took them out with it.

"Doctor, you've got 20 seconds, maximum!" I yelled, as Jack and I pulled out our pistols and fired at the 3 that were still alive.

Finally, Jack's pistol clicked empty, while I still had a clip left.

"I'm sorry, Jack" I said, as I ran towards the stairs at Floor 500 and reloaded quickly. "I'm so sorry."

As I heard the dialogue of both **"Exterminate"** , followed by Jack's last words "I kinda figured that", I ran up the stairs, before I caught my ankle on a piece of rubble.

"No, no. Not now" I muttered, as I felt the ankle and realised it was the same one I'd broke and got repaired by Jack's nanogenes. Seemed that they really _hadn't_ done all of their job right. I could feel a tiny space of existing pain, and that made me limp a bit while I tried to pull the debris off it.

I heard more Daleks approaching, and this time, I _had_ to make the bullets count.

Firing at their eye-stalks as they appeared, I'd got it down to only two bullets left in the gun before I appeared in front of the Doctor, limping slightly, burn marks due to the rifle exploding and only 2 bullets to save myself.

"Doc-tor!" I called out weakly, before collapsing in front of his horrified face.

I propped myself against the monitors and waited for them to appear, while the Doctor finalised the machine for the Delta Wave.

"It's ready!" he shouted, as the Daleks showed up all around us.

I fired both bullets into the air before throwing the pistol down in front of me, now completely empty.

A lone Dalek pointed its gun at me and shouted **"Exterminate!"**

"Fuck… you..." I said in exhaustion, before it fired, and ended my mortal life, in a mixture of both pain, and acceptance this time.

* * *

Like the last time, however, I would be given a second chance. I just didn't realise how _vital_ my next choice would be.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a white space. Devoid of anything aside from myself and the seemingly never-ending mist.

I looked down, wondering if I'd be clothed, or if it was "wish it and it will appear."

Thankfully, I was still in the same clothes I'd worn when I was in my final moments, only a lot cleaner.

"Hello?" I called out to the depths. "Anyone here?"

When no answer came, I imagined a bench, which I then sat down on and waited for my number to be called.

"I never knew Heaven could be so empty" I muttered, looking around.

"Heaven, no" a familiar voice called out. "This is more like.. Limbo."

"No way" I said, disbelievingly, wanting the truth to be real. "S-Sophie?"

"Not exactly" it replied, and I then saw what it meant, as it stepped closer to me.

It was indeed Sophie's body and voice walking towards me, but there was something off about it. Like she was a puppet, almost.

"Who are you?" I demanded. "And why use Sophie as a translator?"

"Who I am, I'll get to in a minute" she/it/whatever replied. "Why I'm using her is because of the way you entered this world. You see, in all my years of being alive I've never encountered someone as complex as you, Marty Smith. You are an ordinary person from an ordinary family, who just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. Care to explain why?"

"No" I answered, finding my voice. "And I doubt I'd be able to, given the amount of shit I've been through."

"Vulgarity aside, you were placed there because the universe wants you to go on living. And of course, that's hardly the case now, given your current status."

"You still didn't answer my question" I said. "Who the hell _are_ you?"

"I'm getting to that. Let me finish my other point."

"Fine" I muttered, as "Sophie" continued.

"I chose this form because it is the last one you encountered before beginning your adventure. The one you exchanged a parting gift with."

"But I didn't leave any..." I said, then remembered what I did before I'd walked to the weapons shed with her, Marcus and Reinhardt. Two more people who's deaths were still on my hands. But I remembered the last bit of contact I'd had with her before we got everything on us. The last action I'd done to her regarding physical activity was…

"A kiss" I said at last, letting the memory of her lips fill me with a moment of joy. " _That's_ what you mean."

"Precisely. Sometimes, even the smallest detail can go a long way to restoring happiness. "I chose this form because you had formed an emotional attachment with her and wanted to be friends, if not more."

"Then, she died" I said, as I recalled how the Daleks had blasted her in the back while she was looking at me, and she never got to start her journey.

"You buried her, even though you never knew her, but you still wanted to have a piece of her with you at all times."

"Sophie" then held out her hand and unfolded it to reveal a tiny gem inside it, which still sparkled like no tomorrow.

A ruby. The same one Sophie had worn in a brooch under her armour, and it was the same one that I'd taken from her as a reminder of someone I wanted to love, but was gone too soon.

"If she'd have lived, you'd be a much happier person" the voice said. "But now, look at you. You're a broken man already, and you've hardly taken the next step."

"Broken… _what_?" I exclaimed, trying to get an understanding. "I'm not doing anything else until you tell me who you are _right now_."

"Well, I guess it's long enough" "Sophie" said, vanishing in a bright light.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled, attempting not to be blinded by the transformation.

"Sorry. He's not here either" said another familiar voice, and this time I couldn't help but be overjoyed at this.

"Tardis?" I asked as the light vanished, but her voice still remained.

"The one and only" she declared. "I told you. Everything happens for a reason."

"But. But" I said, trying to reason with her.

"But why go through this whole affair? Aside from the theatrics, I thought it best to give you a choice, Marty. I wasn't wrong about the universe wanting you to live. No-one pushed the timelines to make them fit around you. However, like a whisper in the wind, your name is always there, never fading. It's stretching all the way to the end of time, and beyond."

"Beyond? How?"

"I don't know. I'm not exactly sure, but you're always there in the dark. Never ending. Never dying. Your legacy _will_ continue."

"So, what _is_ the choice?" I asked, cautiously. "What am I being asked to decide?"

"Your choice is simply this: To come back exactly like your friend Jack, or..."

"Or, what?"

"To come back, and exchange lives for your own."

"How does that work?" I asked, as I was shown two identical copies of myself, with one massive difference:

One was coated with an electric blue outline, while the other was a burnt and rustic orange.

"Are you for real?" I asked, angrily. "Never mind the fact that you're laying it out _exactly_ like Infamous where I've got two choices, but one of them is a direct copy of Jack's resurrection, and the other one is what? Me being a fucking vampire?"

"It's not as simple as that" the orange one replied, speaking with my own voice, but in a more gleeful tone. "You see, if you select this path, not only will you come back, but you will still live on, as long as you offer other lives for your own. Their lifespan will be added onto yours, and prolonging it until you deem fit. If you want to die, all you have to do is stop feeding. It's easy as pie."

"And the other?" I asked the blue version. "How is being like Jack any better?"

"It has its benefits" it replied; again with my voice, but more stoic. "You will live much longer than what my brother here envisions. You will survive more torture than any person could bear, and you will not resort to a soul-feeding cannibalism in order to keep yourself alive. Yes, you will have to sustain a life of solitude, but in time, you will find love and understanding from a legacy."

"So" the Tardis said, as both visions disappeared. "The choice is yours. What sort of man do you want to be?"

"If I go with the red, I'll end up leeching off people to make my own life better" I said, understanding both sides. "I may have taken lives in the past to survive, but understand this. I will _never_ become a butcher of millions, no matter _how_ dire the situation.

If I go through with the blue, I'll become exactly like Jack, and stuck in this same age forever until I die. I'll have one hell of a life, but will it be worth it in the end?"

"You need to decide soon" answered the Tardis. "Right now, Rose is about to arrive on the Game Station and wipe out the Daleks. After that, you've maybe 30 seconds before you're trapped here forever, without a legacy to look forward to. Again, what sort of man are you going to give to the world?"

"I said it before, and I'll say it again" I told her. "I will _never_ become a butcher."

"So, you choose the path of your friend? Final answer?"

"Final answer" I replied, as the blue version of me reappeared, with its arm outstretched in a handshake gesture.

Taking it, I felt a surge of energy rush through me like never before, which almost caused me to jump back.

The energy then vanished, as did the blue version, leaving me all alone with the Tardis' voice.

"One last thing before you are reborn" she said. "Even though you may have chosen this path, down the line your decisions may come back to you in a new way. Now wake up, Mr Smith. Wake up, and take your first breath as a new man..."

* * *

I gasped for breath as I woke up, trying to make sure that hadn't been a dream.

The first clue that I still wasn't dreaming, aside from the elephant in the room – Rose and the Tardis – was that the Daleks who had surrounded me and the Doctor were now dust at our feet.

I looked around, and heard both he and Rose talking to each other.

He tried to reason with her, saying "You can't control life and death!"

"But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and the night. But why do they hurt?" Rose asked him, as I tried to stand up slowly.

"The power's gonna kill you" he cried, "And it's my fault!"

"I can see everything" Rose said, as I stood up fully, and she looked right at me. "All that is, all that was. All that ever could be."

The Doctor then stood up as well, before looking back at me in a mixture of sadness and acceptance, before turning back to Rose and saying "That's what _I_ see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"

"My head" Rose said, as Tears started to fall down her face.

"Come here."

"It's killing me."

"I think you need a doctor" he finished, while I stared on in knowledge that this was both an ending for all of us, but also a new beginning.

As the Doctor kissed Rose and drained the time energy from her, I looked down at my hands and felt where the Dalek had blasted me, knowing that my world wasn't going to get any easier.

" _So, this is rebirth"_ I thought, with a sad look in my eyes. _"At least Jack's not alone, now. But what did she mean by my choices coming back to me? Will I actually_ _ **become**_ _that second version when I'm older? For now, I think, therefore I am."_

I looked back up at the Doctor, who had taken all of the time energy from Rose and then laid her down on the ground peacefully.

After that, he stood back up, with the glow from the Tardis in his eyes, and expelled it back into her, where she finished by closing the doors back on him.

I noticed a happy expression on the Doctor's face, but also a knowing one that his time had come.

"You're about to regenerate, aren't you?" I asked, breaking the silence as he leaned back down to pick Rose up and take her into the Tardis.

"Yes, I am" he replied calmly. "Unfortunately, I can't take you with me. You have to stay here, Marty. You're a complicated space-time event; one that's never going away. I'm sorry."

"You're wrong" I said, as he opened the Tardis doors for him and Rose. "When I died, the Tardis actually spoke to me, saying that my name would still be said in the universe, as much as yours. And you're forgetting something" I added. "You said I'd be with you until my problem got sorted, and last time I checked, that still hasn't been touched upon. So, you can either put up with me for a literal eternity, or leave me behind, knowing that you failed to keep another promise to someone. Your choice."

"Truth or consequences" the Doctor recalled. "Rarely a third option."

And with that, he reluctantly let me enter the Tardis behind him, shutting the door and letting me sit down near the console.

As the Doctor started the Tardis up to take us away from the Game Station, in my mind I knew Jack would hear the engines and come sprinting up the steps after being brought back, only to end up how the Doctor wanted me to. Trapped on this station and watching the Tardis vanish from this time.

" _Don't worry, Jack"_ I thought with a smile. _"You'll get around to it eventually. Even if it takes you over a century to find us."_

I was so busy wrapped up in my own thoughts, I'd forgot about the Doctor until I saw the orange glow of the regeneration appear on his hand out of the corner of my eye.

"How long do you have?" I asked, as the Doctor tried to control himself.

"A few minutes" he said, keeping his hands on the controls.

Just then, Rose woke up and asked "What happened?"

"Don't you remember?" the Doctor asked her as I tried to remain hidden.

"It's like..." she said, struggling to rise. "There was this singing."

"That's right" the Doctor said, not correcting her. "I sang a song and the Daleks ran away."

"I was at home" Rose said, before remembering "No, I wasn't. I was in the Tardis, and… There was this light. I can't remember anything else."

The Doctor then looked down at his hand that had a flicker of regeneration energy, over to me, where I was still keeping quiet and hidden from her view, then back over to Rose.

With an accepting smile on his face, he said "Rose Tyler. I was going to take you to loads of places. Barcelona, not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona, you'd love it. _Fantastic_ place. They've got dogs with no noses."

All of us, me especially tried not to laugh in what could be this Doctor's final moments of happiness.

"Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny!"

"Then, why can't we go?" Rose asked, as I knew that I'd have to step up soon before he too was reborn.

"Maybe you will, maybe _I_ will, but not like this."

"You're not making sense" Rose replied, as she finally got up.

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don't say that's an improvement!"

Then, in all seriousness, he said "It's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you'll end up with."

The Doctor then recoiled in pain, as more regeneration energy made itself more apparent.

I couldn't wait any longer and revealed myself to protect Rose, saying "Get back."

"Marty?" she asked, looking in confusion. "Doctor, what's going on?"

"He absorbed all the energy of the time vortex" I replied. "And no-one's meant to do that."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, looked at her and said "Every cell in my body is dying."

"Can't you do something?"

"He _is_ doing it" I said.

"Time Lords have this little trick. It's a sort of way of cheating death" the Doctor continued. "Except… it means I'm gonna change. And I'm not gonna see you again. Not like this" he clarified, gesturing to his face. "Not with this daft old face."

"And before I go" he said, before Rose interrupted him. "Don't say that!"

"Rose. Marty. Before I go, I just wanna tell you, you were fantastic. _Absolutely_ fantastic. And you know what?" he asked, as she shook her head slightly. "So was I."

Then, with a smile still on his face, he stepped back, and started to regenerate into the second Doctor that I'd knew growing up.

Rose was panicked and took cover behind the nearest post, while I tried to cover my eyes at the sight before us.

Through the glow, we saw his face change more and more, his hair grew into that rocker look I'd associated with him, and finally, it was over, as the new man stood in front of us.

"Hello" he said, introducing himself, before noticing his voice. "Okay."

Then, we saw him feel the inside of his mouth before he said "New teeth, that's weird. So, where was I?" he asked himself, before noticing the two of us, who were staring in awe. "Oh, that's right. Barcelona" he grinned, showing every one of his pearly whites...

 **AN 2 - Well, this has been a fun experience to write over this year. Where will the journey go for Marty now, given his new "power"? How much more complicated will events change for him? Will the Tardis be willing to accept him? All these and many more questions will be answered in "Of Time, Space and Beyond Humanity Volume 2!"**

 **Hope you enjoyed reading this. Happy New Year to you all, and I'll be back soon with my version of "The Christmas Invasion". Until then, take care!**


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